Mending the Broken: Stolen Blood
by Pudding Dragon
Summary: After Pain's attack, Sasuke and his team move in to finish off Konoha, as Naruto and his friends move to intercept them. But a brutal sneak attack by a new enemy decimates both groups, and a madman heralds the return of ancient evils and the dawn of a new age of war. Alternating action/fluff, updated sporadically at best.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note – this story begins immediately after Pain's attack on Konoha.

Also note that this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

P.S. – despite my earlier warning of disturbing/adult content, the affection between Neji and Hinata is family support. There will be no incest in my fanfic!

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

– " _flashback" – _

**Chapter 1. – Troubled hearts and approaching menace.**

A young shinobi sat on top of the Hokage Monument, watching the sun set over the forest. Emotions ran wildly through Naruto like fire in his brain. So many of his friends were hurt, and even though Pain had eventually restored his victims to life, most of them would be hospitalized indefinitely.

Tears leaked from his blue eyes as he looked out over the remains of the village after Pain's attack. "_All this destruction is my fault!"_ he thought._ "Pain was after the Kyuubi no kitsune inside me. I got here too late to protect my friends, and when I did arrive, Hinata tried to sacrifice herself to protect me."_ Naruto silently thanked the Kami she had escaped the permanent damage she could have so easily received.

_Hinata_… the thought brought yet more confusion to his heart.

– "_I'm not afraid to die protecting you… because I… love you." –_ Her words had shaken his world almost as much as Pain's attack.

It explained so much, how had he not seen it? But how could she love him? He was a monster; who could love a jinchuuriki? And how did he feel about Hinata? He liked Sakura, didn't he? But then why did he feel so much more rage when Pain hurt Hinata than when he had seen Sakura hurt in the past? Come to think of it, the same thing had happened during the chuunin exams. When Hinata had been in danger, he had erupted in fury. Did that mean he loved her too? But wouldn't that be like betraying Sakura? And if it did mean he liked Hinata, then how did he really feel about Sakura? Was she just a childhood crush that he had been too foolish to let go of?

"Aaauuuugghhh!!!" Naruto yelled in frustration as he tried to sort through the conflicting feelings.

In her hospital bed, the Hyuuga heiress in question was tormenting herself with doubt. It had been two days since she confessed her love to Naruto, yet he hadn't come to see her.

Was he angry that she had interfered? Was he disgusted by the thought of being with her? They had said he wasn't hurt, but what if they were lying to reassure her? Was he alright? Did he hate her? Did he care about her at all? She had looked through the hospital with her byakugan earlier but hadn't seen him anywhere.

"Naruto-kun," she whispered into her pillow with tears in her pupilless eyes, "even if you hate me, please be alright."

"Now if he hated you, Hinata-sama, he might be alright by now."

Hinata jumped at the sound of her cousin's voice, "N-Neji-niisan? I d-didn't see you. How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to understand what's troubling you," Neji replied. "And you shouldn't admit that you didn't notice me. If Hiashi-sama had heard you, he would have harsh words about you not noticing me."

Hinata saddened at this thought. Even though he had mellowed over the past several years, her father was still strict and demanding, and many times she had had to listen to his cutting criticisms of her perceived inadequacies.

Then she frowned, "What did you mean, if he hated me he might be alright?"

Neji sighed; sometimes it was hard being so much more observant than the people around him.

"What I meant, Hinata-sama, is that Naruto obviously cares about you deeply, but in his head he has never connected those feelings with romance. So now he is struggling to analyze his feelings for you, and is having great difficulty doing so."

"Because he was persecuted as a child, he has had relatively little experience with positive social interactions. His whole life he has had to struggle to earn other people's respect and acceptance, so the idea of someone else taking initiative to have affection for him is an alien concept to Naruto. He can't imagine someone caring for him without first fighting tooth and nail to make them care. All told he is extremely confused, and will probably need some time to himself to figure out how he feels about you."

Tears began to form in Hinata's eyes. "So in the end I just caused Naruto-kun more confusion and pain,"

Neji sighed again. He leaned down, took her face in his hands, and looked her squarely in the eye. "Hinata-sama, you have loved Naruto since long before anyone else accepted him, much less liked him. This is not your fault," he said, then released her and stood back up.

"It is simply a process he has to go though. Think of it as a sort of psychological growing pain. I suspect," "– _and hope,"_ he added to himself, "that he has loved you as well and will soon realize it, thus bringing happiness to both of you."

Predictably, this last statement caused Hinata to do her best impression of a little red wagon.

"Wh-why do you think that, N-niisan?" she stammered.

Neji smiled, _"I can't believe that I hated her once. Is this affection how cousins are supposed to feel?"_

"Well, Hinata-sama, he nearly killed himself avenging you in the chuunin exams, and when Pain hurt you, he turned himself into a demon to protect you. Those do not seem like things that someone would be willing to do for a casual acquaintance."

At this point a nurse came and told Neji that visiting hours were over.

As he turned to go, Hinata said, "N-Neji-niisan, um, thank you. For, you know, for caring about me."

Neji smiled sadly, "Your father loves you too, Hinata-sama. Hiashi-sama just wants what he thinks is best for you – he will be here tomorrow morning to check you out of the hospital, by the way."

"_I wish that the two of them understood one another better," _Neji thought as he walked out of the hospital._ "They both think that no one loves them."_

In another part of the hospital – the on call room to be exact – a pink haired kunoichi sat on a bunk, slumped over with her face in her hands.

"_Naruto hasn't talked to me since Hinata confessed to him. Does he love her? He has never gotten that angry before, yet he didn't hurt her with the demon chakra like he hurt me with it when he fought Orochimaru." _

Sakura began to silently weep. It took the thought of loosing Naruto to another to force her to admit to herself that she loved him.

"_After rejecting him for so long, what right do I have to his love," _she thought miserably. _"I should just let them be happy together. After all, Hinata can offer him so much more than I can; she's beautiful and I'm a flat-chested 'forehead girl', she's the heiress of a rich and powerful clan and I'm a nobody."_

Sakura's sobs were no longer silent. _"But the worst part is that she has always been so kind to him while I was so cruel when we were young." _

As the memories of all the times she had insulted him, all the times she had not believed in him, and all the times she had just ignored him washed through her head, Sakura lay back on the bunk. Smothered in regret and despair, she cried herself to sleep.

Sakura never saw the well manicured hands that gently wiped her tearstained face, laid a blanket over her, and tucked her in.

"So this is where you've been hiding. You don't have to go through this alone, we're best friends again, remember?" Ino whispered. "You have as much right as anyone else to be happy. Let me help you, Sakura, and we'll make up for all of our mistakes. I'll help you. I want you to find happiness."

A young man with blood red eyes and hair as black as his heart sat in the darkness of his lair.

"_Konohagakure has taken everything from me,"_ Sasuke thought. _"Their fear took away my clan, and then their lies took away my brother. But I'll have my vengeance, because for everything they've taken away from me, I've become stronger. My brother was right about one thing, hatred does grant strength, and I have only hatred in my heart."_

Three figures appeared before him in a burst of smoke.

"We've confirmed that Konohagakure's council of elders meets tomorrow at 3:30, Sasuke-kun. All the heads of the clans will be there," said Karin, the only female member of the team, "the best time for an attack will be when they break to eat, which will probably happen between 5:30 and 6:00. We can sneak in as the food is brought in."

"If we're going to hit them, it needs to be hard and fast. If we screw up we'll be up against a room full of pissed off 'A' and 'S' class ninjas," said Suigetsu with his usual shark toothed grin, "not that that wouldn't be fun, but I prefer cutting to being cut."

The last member of the team, Juugo, remained silent.

Sasuke stood up slowly. "Then tomorrow, the elders of Konoha, who took away everything away from me, will die," he said calmly.

No one noticed a small beetle crawl away from the window.

Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, frowned as she listened to Shino's report.

"As you know, my insects have been following Sasuke since his fight with Itachi. I've got their latest news," Shino said emotionlessly. "I've marked the coordinates of his current hideout in my written report. But of more immediate concern is what my friends heard them saying; Sasuke plans to attack the council of elders tomorrow, and assassinate all the clan heads."

"Good work Shino," Tsunade said, "assemble your team and have them standby for action. Shizune!"

"Hai," answered Tsunade's assistant.

"Send for the ANBU, Yamato, and Guy. When Sasuke arrives I want teams Kakashi, Guy, and Kurenai waiting for him!"

Tsunade's frown deepened. Sasuke had caused too much pain to too many of her shinobi. The ANBU would set up a barrier around the perimeter, trapping him in with the three teams. This time she would not allow him to escape!

Deep in the shadows of the Nara clan's forest, a swordsman smiled. His teeth had been filed into fangs, and were a dirty white color normally reserved for things that fed on rotting flesh.

"Doton: domimi no jutsu (earth style: stone ears jutsu) – release!"

His smile was totally devoid of warmth or joy, and expressed an evil glee that could chill the soul of the most hardened shinobi.

"The last Uchiha, the progenitor of the curse seals, two Hyuugas, and a jinchuuriki, all in one place. This could hardly be more perfect if I had planed it myself."

He lifted his long, thin, wickedly sharp katana to his lips and whispered, "Soon, my beloved, soon we will feast. Until then, enjoy this snack."

He tossed the severed head of Hidan, the immortal member of Akatsuki, into the air, and impaled it, almost too swiftly for the eye to follow.

"_Soon, soon."_


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 2. – Bonds of suffering.**

Hiashi Hyuuga walked into the hospital hanging his head, lost in thought. _"Why did you do it, Hinata? Haven't I taught you better than to get into such a situation? Protecting comrades is all well and good, but she was so obviously out of her league. She had to know she would only get in the way. Her foolishness almost released the Kyuubi."_

Hiashi didn't hear or respond to the nurses' greetings as he passed them. _"I thought I had taught you to know better, Hinata. It seems that I truly am a failure as a father. I know her team is being sent on a mission today, when she returns I'll have to do some intensive training with her on the psychological aspects of being a ninja. I can't let her be so reckless." _

Hiashi took a deep breath to calm himself as he stood before the door to Hinata's room. _"How I wish I didn't have to do this,"_ he thought as he opened the door and strode in, adopting a false air of anger to mask his heartache at what he was about to do.

"_It's for her own good, even if she hates me for it. She needs discipline. One must be cruel to be kind. Show no weakness."_

Hinata was just finishing packing her small bag with the few possessions she had brought with her to the hospital when Hiashi came in. Her heart sank as she saw his scowl.

"Good morning, father," she said, bowing so that he wouldn't see if – oh, who was she kidding, when – she started to cry.

"_He's going to yell at me, here in the hospital, where everyone can hear,"_ she thought miserably. _"Oh Kami, please don't let him yell at me here!"_ She couldn't bear the thought that everyone would know how much her father hated her.

"Hinata, your team has been called for a mission today, along with two other teams," Hiashi said slowly, "but before you report to Tsunade-sama, I would like you explain to me exactly why you thought you should interfere in a battle so clearly beyond your abilities and endanger the entire village in the process."

"I confess I had been laboring under the delusion that I had taught you better than to do something so utterly foolish, thus humiliating both the clan and me personally. I would like to know your reasoning, seeing as the question will almost certainly come up at the council of elders this afternoon, and I should at least attempt, futile though it will doubtless prove, to salvage something of the Hyuugas' reputation."

Hinata had, as usual, lost her internal battle to hold in her tears under the lash of her father's words.

"F-forgive me, father. I just c-couldn't stand by watching N-Naruto fighting t-to protect everyone and d-do nothing to help him," she said, struggling to speak through her tears, and carefully not adding a suffix to Naruto's name.

"I see," Hiashi replied coldly, "and did it never occur to you to make his efforts worthwhile, by say, evacuating the wounded, or looking for survivors, or anything else where your efforts would be useful, rather than counterproductive?"

"F-forgive m-me, f-father," Hinata sobbed. _"Why?"_ she thought, _"Why can't he just love me?"_

Hiashi sighed, "Go. Report to Tsunade-sama. We will continue this conversation when you return from your mission. Perhaps by then I'll have thought of a way to make you understand what are and aren't acceptable risks for a daughter of a clan head. Now go."

Without a word, tears streaming from her eyes, Hinata quickly rose and ran from the room.

Hiashi longed to run after his daughter, to hold her, dry her eyes, and tell her that he loved her, but with the iron self-control of a veteran shinobi, he kept his features hard and emotionless.

"_It's for her own good,"_ he reminded himself, _"even if she hates me for it. Show no weakness."_

He never stopped to question whether it was weakness he was refusing to show, or humanity.

Naruto looked around at the 'council of elders' and sighed.

"_I wonder where the real council got moved to," _He thought vaguely, before refocusing on the upcoming fight with Sasuke.

He, along with Sakura, Sai, and Yamato, were using a henge no jutsu to disguise themselves as Tsunade, Shizune and the two advisers. Guy, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata made up the various clan heads.

"_I wish Kakashi-sensei were here,"_ Naruto thought. _"I can't believe Tsunade-baachan is making him stay in the hospital for another two weeks."_

Sakura, disguised as her mentor Tsunade, nervously ran over the plan in her head – for the 287th time. _"Shino's bugs reported that Sasuke will try to sneak in with the catering, so after the food comes in, the ANBU will set up a barrier around the Hokage Building, which will trap Sasuke in with us."_

"_Team Guy and Team Kurenai move to engage Sasuke's teammates, while Team Kakashi, us, take on Sasuke, since only Naruto can match his power. We have two jyuuken fighters, Shino's chakra eating bugs, and Yamato-taichou's mokuton (wood style), so we should be able to take them alive."_ She refused to speculate on what would happen after that. Sasuke was a criminal, after all.

The wall clock chimed to indicated 5:32 as the four 'caterers' finished setting out the formal dining for the council.

Sasuke smiled to himself, confident that the ANBU would not see through his genjutsu. After all, he had the mangekyou sharingan, and thus the strongest genjutsu in the world, the Tsukuyomi. Not that he would use such a powerful technique yet, there was no need. Everything was going perfectly.

It was time. "Is everyone ready?" asked Yamato.

The assembled shinobi nodded.

"Then let's go, and remember the plan."

They filed out of the council room and down to the formal dining area, stopping in front of the doors.

Neji, disguised as his uncle Hiashi, activated his byakugan. Yes, the people in the next room were indeed the enemy ninjas, and thus they would have only seconds before Sasuke's sharingan saw through their disguises.

He signaled silently for the ANBU 'guards' to set up the barrier, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Sasuke watched as the council come filing in, moving much more purposefully than he had expected. As the Hokage and her retainers approached him, something about their movements stuck him as familiar. _"Wait, that walk and that posture, that's –"_

"NOW!" shouted Shizune, in Naruto's voice, and the entire council sprang forward to attack, dispelling their disguises as they did.

The Konoha ninja had the element of surprise and used it well. Hinata attacked Karin, catching her off guard with jyuuken strikes and shutting down several key chakra points, before Kiba and Akamaru smashed the unfortunate rogue kunoichi into the wall with their gatsuga (dual piercing fang) jutsu.

Simultaneously Guy struck at Suigetsu with a leaf hurricane taijutsu technique, only to be blocked by Suigetsu's zanbatou. This, however, gave Tenten an opening, and several kunai sunk into Suigetsu's viscous body, apparently with no effect.

Then the exploding tags attached to the kunai went off, splattering the liquid ninja across the wall. While this did not actually kill him, due to the experimentation he had undergone as Orochimaru's prisoner, it definitely put him out of the fight.

Juugo, on the other hand, recovered from his surprise quickly, using his innate curse seal –on which all other curse seals were based – to transform his arm into a demonic claw.

As Lee charged him, Juugo threw his claw forward in a low hook, catching Lee under the ribcage and hurling him across the room, before turning to face Neji and Shino.

Sasuke quickly found himself surrounded by shadow clones. _"Were we spotted as we entered the village?" _he wondered, dodging away from one clone and ducking under a punch from another. _"No, if that were the case, they would have attacked us on sight, not set this trap. They knew we were coming."_

Sasuke threw his fist out to the right and kicked to the left, destroying both clones. This left him open to a sweeping kick from a third clone, but as he fell Sasuke twisted around and planted his left hand, then spun himself around to deliver a kick with both feet to a forth clone, launching himself at yet another of Naruto's clones.

Sasuke was doing well, but he knew that he would tire long before Naruto ran out of clones.

Sakura glanced up from tending Lee's wound and allowed herself a grim smile. The battle was going well. Two of the four enemies had been neutralized in the initial assault, while only one of their fighters had gone down, and Lee was already stabilizing, thanks to her immediate attention. Yamato had quickly bound Karin and… gathered Suigetsu using his mokuton (wood style). Even Naruto was sticking to the plan, devoting less chakra than normal to each clone, wearing Sasuke out while preserving his own stamina.

"_It's working,"_ thought Sakura, _"we're going to bring Sasuke back."_

Naruto's mind was boiling with suppressed emotion. _"Stay calm," _he thought franticly,_ "if I get pissed, he'll get away again. Stay calm, stay calm…How can Sasuke do this, he's actually attacking the village! NO! Stay clam, stay calm…"_

Naruto was not calm. "I won't let you go this time, Sasuke!" shouted one of the clones.

Sasuke smiled as he dodged the punch of the offending clone and kneed it hard in the solar plexus. "I told you before, Naruto, I've severed all ties with you. But I still have bonds to this village. I am tied to Konoha with bonds of vengeance!"

At this point Naruto was definitely not calm.

"Rasengan (spinning sphere)!" "Rasengan!" "Rasengan!" three Narutos charged Sasuke with swirling balls of chakra in their hands.

"_Shit, three at once?"_ Sasuke threw out his arms, "Chidori (1000 birds)." A blade of electricity extended from each of his hands, impaling and dispelling two of the clones. Sasuke closed one of his eyes, and the other bled as the pupil shifted into a star. "Amaterasu." The final clone erupted into black flame.

While Naruto and Sasuke fought, Neji and Shino faced off with Juugo.

"Swarm," Shino commanded, and his insects obeyed, encircling Juugo in a cloud. The rouge ninja screamed in fury and flailed about, trying to swat the chakra draining bugs.

Neji, using the bug cloud as both a distraction and a smoke screen, leaped in, closed four of Juugo's chakra points, and leaped back, dodging the flailing claws.

In response, Juugo used his curse seal to grow sharp spikes all across his body. All the while, Shino's insects continued to drain his chakra.

"_If he expects a few spikes to protect him from me, then he's in for a rude awakening,"_ thought Neji grimly, as he dodged another wild blow.

"Two palms, four palms," _"and dodge,"_ Neji grinned, he was getting into the rhythm of this fight now. Juugo recognized this too, and tried to time his swings to match Neji's attacks, but between the insects and the jyuuken strikes, he had already lost too much chakra. He knew he couldn't last much longer.

It was at this point that the floor exploded.

The blast threw jagged shards of rock through the air like shuriken and knocked everyone off their feet. Guy, Yamato, and Sai were standing directly above the epicenter, and were thrown like rag dolls, to land in broken heaps. Kiba and Sakura were slammed into the walls by shockwaves, and blacked out. Naruto, reacting quickly, was able to use his shadow clones to block most of the shrapnel from his teammates, and cushion the impact for himself, Hinata, Shino, and Tenten. Neji was thrown headfirst into Juugo, and the two of them went down in a heap.

Then Neji felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest.

The dust cleared to reveal a blindfolded man with dirty fangs grinning maniacally as blood ran down the sword chained to his wrist from where it impaled Neji and Juugo like a shish kabob.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

P.S. – despite my earlier warning of disturbing/adult content, the affection between Neji and Hinata is family support. There will be no incest in my fanfic!

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

**Chapter 3. – The Sword of Madness.**

All the remaining shinobi stood in a momentary state of shock. Who in all the bloody hells was this freak? Then Neji coughed up blood, breaking the moment of silence.

"NIISAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!!!!!" Hinata screamed hysterically, and started to run toward her cousin.

"No, stay back!" Shino shouted, appearing at her side and grabbing her shoulder. The sheer force of the killing intent that the stranger gave off was terrifying, he radiated pure evil in palpable waves of bloodlust.

The mystery ninja turned around to face the group, revealing that his blindfold was in fact a ninja headband – one that marked him as a missing-nin from the hidden mist village. He lifted his sword and licked the blade, lapping at Neji and Juugo's blood. "Delicious," he murmured, almost giggling with sadistic glee.

Naruto felt his body changing as his self control crumbling under the increasing pressure of his rage. **"You fucking bastard! Who the hell are you!?!" **

The man looked at him and smiled, "Ah, my dear Kyuubi, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Toramaru. I want to thank you for killing Pain, if you hadn't I might never have been reunited with my beloved Hiruhime (leech princess)."

At this point he ran the bloodstained blade of his katana across his cheek in a manner reminiscent of a lover's caress.

Of course, this only increased Naruto's fury, and the fiery chakra that formed the demon cloak was already leaking out of him, despite his efforts to contain it.

"Yes, I do truly want to thank you," Toramaru continued, seemingly oblivious, "and I shall, but first I have some business with Uchiha-san to take care of, so if you will excuse me for a moment…"

It was at that point that Naruto, in a two tailed state, punched his claw through Toramaru's chest, only to be splashed by water instead of blood.

"_A water clone?"_ thought Sasuke as he watched Toramaru become a puddle. _"Impossible, my sharingan should have seen him use the jutsu!"_

Suddenly, acting purely on instinct, Sasuke performed a substitution jutsu, and was rewarded with the sight of a log being sliced cleanly in two instead of his head. The enemy's sword arm was extending out of the solid rock of the floor. Then the arm was gone, lost in the explosion of a Kyuubi powered rasengan tearing into the floor.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" insane laughter rang out as Toramaru sprang up out of the solid stone like a fish jumping out of the water, but leaving not so much as a crack in the floor – no sign that anyone had been hiding underground.

"_Impossible,"_ thought Sasuke, for the second time in as many seconds, _"not even the best doton masters can burrow that fast without leaving a trail. And he seems to be able to completely conceal his chakra and killing intent when he wants to, even from the sharingan and byakugan. This man has stealth capabilities beyond anything I'd ever heard of."_

While Toramaru was occupied with Naruto and Sasuke, Hinata and Tenten had run to Neji's side, while Shino – always cool under pressure – tried to wake Sakura, the only real medic on the team.

"_I set off the distress signal, why aren't the ANBU here yet?"_ Shino wondered as his insects spread out to check all the unconscious ninjas for a pulse.

"Niisan, Niisan…" Hinata was sobbing hysterically into Neji's chest.

"Hin-hinata-sama…Ten-ah-Tenten-chan," he gasped.

"Shush, don't try to talk!" Tenten was thinking furiously. She had only the most basic of medical training, but she did know quite a bit about how to hurt people with sharp objects, and was scrambling to reverse engineer a way to save her teammate, the man she loved.

"_Given the location of the wound, he's got a punctured lung," _she deduced. _"If we don't do something he'll drown in his own blood. I've got to drain the blood somehow. Think, Tenten, think…AHA!"_ the kunoichi's eyes lit up.

She pulled out one of her weapon summoning scrolls and called forth a small blowgun. "Kami, please don't let Neji bleed to death," she whispered, as – slowly and carefully – she pushed the blowgun into his wound.

This brought a gasp of pain from Neji and a cry of "What are you doing!" from Hinata, but almost immediately Neji began to breathe easier.

During this time, the combatants had not been idle. Sasuke had released the second state of his new and improved curse seal in a vain attempt to match Toramaru's incredible speed, and Naruto had grown his third tail.

Despite all their efforts, however, Toramaru was still managing to simultaneously avoid Naruto's attacks and press Sasuke into more and more desperate defenses.

"**AARRAAAUUHH!!!"** Naruto howled in fury as Toramaru leapt agilely to one side, letting the wall be torn apart by Naruto's claw in place of his torso.

"Yes, Naruto!" the mad swordsman shouted, "This is my gift to you! I give you rage! I give you pain! I give you fury! I give you life itself, an assurance of your existence!"

"You're insane! Chidori!" Sasuke yelled as he threw chidori needles at Toramaru.

"A worthy effort, but futile! Do you see how Hiruhime brushes your jutsu aside?" Toramaru gloated as he deflected each needle.

To Sasuke's sharingan enhanced eyes, it was as if the deadly chakra needles were gently turned aside by the merest touch of the sword's tip, before Toramaru turned to parry Naruto's claws yet again.

"_This is bad. I can't keep up this pace," _Sasuke was struggling not to panic in the face of his opponent's skill. _"This guy is stronger than anyone I've ever seen. I don't know if I could beat him under ideal circumstances, and I'm already tired from fighting Naruto."_

Sasuke looked over to where Naruto and Toramaru were fighting. **"Die!"** "Doton: tekkou niku (earth style: steel flesh)." Toramaru was knocked back by the blow, but didn't appear to take any real damage.

"_That's an opening!"_ Sasuke thought as he charged desperately. _"He used a doton defensive jutsu. He's vulnerable to chidori; it's a raiton (lightning style) jutsu. If I can hit him before he gets up, he's done."_

"Chidori!"

Just before Sasuke punched his jutsu through Toramaru, the evil shinobi smiled at him, "I'm disappointed, Uchiha-san," said the water clone as it grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, "you're predictable."

Sakura awoke to the sight of Shino's face – what could be seen of it anyway – and the sound of Sasuke's screams.

She leapt up, ignoring Shino's protest, and saw Sasuke wrapped in a bear hug by a melting water clone, with the electricity of his chidori running through it. Sasuke collapsed as the water clone dissipated, and Sakura felt her heart skip a beat. Then she saw the strange shinobi being chased by Naruto in a three tailed state.

She started to run after Naruto, but Shino grabbed her arm, forcibly drawing her attention to their wounded comrades.

"Neji will bleed to death if you don't treat him now. Guy, Yamato, and Sai all have multiple broken bones and severe concussions. Toramaru – the man Naruto and Sasuke are fighting – has reversed the barrier that the ANBU set up to trap Sasuke in, so no one can come help us." Shino's usually emotionless voice was grim.

Biting back bitter tears, Sakura turned away from the two men she loved fighting for their lives, and went to treat the injured ninjas.

In the back of Naruto's head, some small part of his rational mind remained, and was screaming for him to stop and calm down before he lost control and killed everyone. He couldn't hear that part of his mind at the moment.

"**Damn you!"** he snarled as Toramaru dodged his attacks again and again.

"You know, I think I've played with you enough," the rogue shinobi remarked. "It really is time that I got –" he was torn in half only to be revealed as a water clone "– what I came for and went on my way," he replied, without breaking his sentence, as he appeared next to Sasuke's prone form.

"**NO!"** All the remaining Konoha ninjas simultaneously cried out in denial, but Toramaru's sword descended heedlessly.

"Feed, Hiruhime!" he screamed triumphantly, as his sword sliced cleanly through Sasuke's lower back.

"_He's severed the spine, Sasuke won't be able to walk anymore,"_ Sakura was struggling not to panic, not to think about the very real possibility that they would all die, either killed by Toramaru or devoured by an unleashed Kyuubi.

"**RRAAAUUUUUHHH!!!"** Naruto's skin was peeling off and burning in the Kyuubi's chakra as he formed a fourth tail, then a fifth.

Toramaru, however, seemed blissfully unaware – or totally uncaring – of the terrible transformation going on behind him. "At last my beloved," he was talking to his sword again, "I can unwrap your peasant.

"Behold, Hiruhime's gift to me, the sharinbyakugan!" The evil swordsman lifted his headband off of his eyes – eyes that were colorless white orbs, save for three pinwheel markings.

"**DDIIIIEEE!!!"** Naruto, in a five tailed rage, leaped at Toramaru, rasengan in hand. There was no way he could miss, he was moving to fast for anything human to dodge.

Toramaru would die, Sasuke would be back, Tsunade would heal everyone, and everything would be back to the way it was supposed to be for the first time since Orochimaru attacked Konoha. All this would be accomplished on impact, only milliseconds away.

The next instant, Naruto was on his knees in small crater, with his arms hanging limply at his sides. Toramaru stood behind him, the spiraling black marks of a first state curse seal release fading from his skin.

"Work on your taijutsu, Naruto," he said as he sheathed Hiruhime at his side, unwrapping the sword's chain from his wrist. "No matter how fast or strong you are, or how powerful your ninjutsu and genjutsu are, if your taijutsu is poor, you will leave yourself open to counterattack."

Naruto shifted out of the fox state, returning to humanity with no skin and deep cuts almost clear through his arms.

"In the same manner, no matter how strong your willpower and how much demonic chakra you have running through you, if your muscles are severed you cannot continue to fight."

The mad shinobi looked around. "Well, I believe I have everything I came for, so I will bid you all farewell. Until next we meet my friends." As he delivered these parting words, he sank into the floor and was gone.

Within seconds, the room was filled with ANBU, but Naruto was no longer conscious to see them. He was unaware as he and his friends were all rushed to the hospital for treatment, nor did he see Sasuke's team taken to a high security prison facility. All he knew was Toramaru's mocking farewell, echoing through his dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 4. – Feelings of Weakness, Resolutions of Strength.**

"We've finished analyzing the reports and surveillance data, Tsunade-sama," Shizune reported hesitantly, "but I'm afraid that it raises at least as many questions as it answers."

Tsunade sighed deeply. Why did attempts to bring Sasuke back always turn into such fiascos? _"They don't make sake strong enough for these situations,"_ she thought, before saying, "Well, let's hear this report that took you a week to complete."

"Hai, Hokage sama," Shizune said, bowing slightly, "As you know, a ninja wearing a defaced Kirigakure headband and identifying himself as Toramaru appeared at our trap to catch Sasuke and attacked both our team of ninjas and Sasuke's companions. Lee, Guy, Yamato, Sai, Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke all received serious injuries, and Juugo was killed. All the injured parties have been stabilized, and all show progress toward a full recovery, except for Sasuke, who may never walk again."

"Now, we've checked our bingo book records for any missing nin matching Toramaru's description, and there is a match. Toramaru was one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, but he was supposed to have been executed for war crimes at the end of the Last Great Ninja War," Shizune continued.

"We've contacted Kirigakure and they confirmed that Toramaru was executed, crucified with 3857 nails, one for each civilian he deliberately killed. However, what our records don't show that they told us now is that his body disappeared shortly afterward, believed to have been stolen by rogue ninjas. They also told us that Toramaru's sword, Hiruhime, was stolen from the Mizukage's high security vault two days after Pain attacked Konoha. When we contacted Konan in Amegakure, she told us that Akatsuki had a man matching Toramaru's description in captivity, but that she hadn't seen him in years."

"So we can conclude that Toramaru somehow survived his execution, was captured by Akatsuki, and escaped when Pain died," Tsunade finished. "What do we know about the sword? All the swords used by the Seven Swordsmen are supposed to be extraordinary in some manner, and he attributed his stealing two kekei genkai to it."

"Well," Shizune answered, "we don't have much verifiable information about that. The sword Hiruhime was locked away after Toramaru's execution and never passed on. There were rumors that it was cursed, as supposedly all of its previous wielders went insane. As to its abilities, it was supposed to grant its wielder the innate abilities – such as chakra affinity and kekei genkai – of 'whoever's blood it tasted,' but again this is rumor and hearsay. There are no reliable records on the subject in any of the villages that we've contacted. However, judging from the abilities he displayed, it seems likely that Toramaru has multiple kekei genkai at his disposal already."

"Which in turn gives credibility to the stories about the powers of his sword," Tsunade paused before demanding, "What about the trackers we sent, have they found his trail?"

Shizune cringed slightly, "Not yet Tsunade-sama, but he left his scent all over the scene of the attack and he stepped on Shino's bugs. We have half the Inuzuka clan searching for Toramaru's scent and a quarter of the Aburame clan tracking the insect pheromones on him. He has to have come up from underground somewhere, and once we find the trail, we can track him wherever he goes."

"That's what worries me," Tsunade replied with a frown. "The skills Toramaru demonstrated would place him as one of the strongest shinobi in the known world. Why would he step on the bugs? He had to have noticed them, and he should know better than to make an amateur mistake like that."

Shizune's brow furrowed. "What exactly are you suggesting?" she asked her mistress.

"I think he's taunting us," Tsunade answered grimly. "I think he purposely made sure that we would be able to track him. He's daring us to come after him, into whatever twisted little trap he's setting up. He wants to be found."

Kakashi was checking out of the hospital a week ahead of schedule, on the condition that he got plenty of rest, did no ninja training, used no chakra, and didn't physically exert himself in any way.

"_Oh well," _he thought, _"at least it's better than being stuck in a hospital bed all day."_

He went to check on his companions on the way out. Sai, Neji and Yamato were all recovering well under the expert care of Tsunade's trained hospital staff. Guy and Lee were both in full body casts, not because it was strictly necessary, but because it had been decided that it was the best way to keep the overly energetic pair from reopening their injuries.

Naruto, however, seemed very unlike his usual self. He sat up in his hospital bed, staring listlessly down at his bandaged hands.

"_Now this isn't the Naruto I know,"_ thought Kakashi, when he entered the room. "So, I heard you finally brought Sasuke back," Kakashi said casually.

Naruto mumbled something unintelligible in response. "Sorry Naruto, but I didn't quite catch that last bit," Kakashi pressed.

"I said that I didn't bring him back," Naruto almost screamed at his sensei. "I tried to bring him back, but all that I did was watch some crazy bastard almost kill him. Then I lost control of the fox and almost killed everyone myself."

Naruto had tears in his eyes by this point. "I thought that I had gotten stronger, but I still couldn't protect anyone. I couldn't stop Pain – who was after me – from hurting everyone, I couldn't stop Sasuke from attacking the village, I couldn't protect anyone from Toramaru, and I couldn't protect anyone from the Kyuubi inside me. I almost killed everyone twice in the past two weeks, by letting the Kyuubi out."

Now the tears ran down his face. "I mean keeping the damn fox locked up is the whole point of my fucking existence, and I even failed that."

Kakashi sighed and said, "First off, you saved everyone from Pain. Yes, a lot of people got hurt, but because of you, no one died. And Pain would have come after Konoha whether you were here or not, he had a grudge against the village. Second, no part of the Sasuke situation is your fault. Sasuke decided to attack us on his own, just like he decided to leave in the first place on his own. Third, no one could have predicted Toramaru's attack. Given that he snuck up on Neji, how could anyone have been expected to be prepared for him? Finally, in both instances that you lost control of the Kyuubi, you had been under extreme emotional stress for some time beforehand and it was seeing your friends hurt that pushed you over the edge. No one can reasonably blame you for that."

Naruto, who had stopped crying by now, just stared down at his hands.

"_I'm not getting through to him,"_ Kakashi thought, _"there must be more to this than he's telling me."_ "Anyway, I've got to go before Tsunade changes her mind about letting me out," he said. "Just think about what I said, ok Naruto?"

As Kakashi turned around, he heard Naruto mutter, "Ok. Thanks, Sensei."

"_What's wrong with me?"_ Naruto thought miserably. _"Why can't I keep the Kyuubi sealed away? It's getting harder and harder to keep calm and maintain the seal. Is it because I almost unleashed the ninth tail fighting Pain? No, that can't be it, the Fourth – I mean, Dad, I still haven't gotten used to that – resealed it. Maybe part of me wants to unleash the fox, so I'll see Dad again. No, what am I thinking, this has been happening for a long time, it's just gotten worse lately. Is something wrong with the seal? Or could the Kyuubi be… getting stronger?"_

On the way out, Kakashi saw Hinata staring nervously at the entrance to Naruto's room.

"_Well,"_ he thought, _"if Naruto won't talk to me, then maybe he'll talk to her."_

He walked over to Hinata. "Hey Hinata, will you do me a favor?" he asked her. She jumped, "Wh-what do you need, Kakashi-sensei?" the shy girl stammered.

Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled. _"This should help her, too,"_ he thought. "It's nothing much, but will you talk to Naruto for me?"

Hinata stiffened and went red as the jounin continued "I just talked to him, and there's something he won't talk about bothering him. I thought he might open up to a friend more than to a former sensei."

Hinata, blushing furiously by this point, said, "H-Hai, I-I'll talk to him, Kakashi-sensei." She bowed quickly, turned, and ran to Naruto's door. There she raised her hand to knock, then hesitated, looking back at Kakashi, who gestured for her to continue. Taking a deep breath, Hinata knocked on Naruto's door, then opened it and peeked in.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Oh, hi Hinata," Naruto answered. _"Well I guess that this is as good a time as any to talk to her,"_ he thought. "I've been meaning to talk to you, Hinata-chan," the blonde shinobi continued.

"_He called me chan!"_ Hinata's heart soared.

Smiling uneasily, Naruto asked, "Did you really mean what you said to me when we fought Pain?"

Tears rushed to Hinata's eyes, "I-I meant it, Naruto-k-kun. I d-don't go back on my word, remember?" Hinata was horrified at the thought that he hadn't taken her confession seriously. "That was, was part of the nindo that you t-taught me. D-don't you remember?"

Naruto was fighting back his own tears as he reached forward and dried the beautiful kunoichi's pearl-like eyes.

"Yes, Hinata-chan, I remember, but… do you," Naruto gulped, and struggled to ask the question that had eaten away at his soul whenever he thought of the raven-haired girl before him since Pain's attack, "do you still feel that way, now that you've seen, now that you know what I really am?"

His tears now streaming down his face, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki continued, "I'll understand, if you don't. I mean, I'm a jinchuuriki; I have the most terrible monster ever to live inside me. I'll understand if you hate me for –"

"STOP!!" Hinata, now openly sobbing, interrupted him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. "Stop," she said again more quietly, "don't say that. You aren't a monster; you're my Naruto-kun, who I love, and who I'll always love."

Both of them were crying and clinging to each other, as the weeping girl continued, "Yes, I am terrified of the Kyuubi, but you aren't the Kyuubi! You fight and suffer to protect us from the Kyuubi, just like you fight to protect us whenever we're in danger. You are a hero, Naruto-kun! You're my hero, who always fights for me, and I love you so much!"

"Hinata-chan…" was all Naruto could manage to say at first, as he wrapped his arms around her, tears running down his face.

"I, I've never felt this way before," he finally managed to stammer, "I think that I love you too, Hinata-chan." He pulled her tighter into their embrace, holding her in his lap with one arm protectively around her shoulders and the other possessively around her waist.

Both of them just sat there, crying softly, basking in the love and acceptance that had always been missing from their lives, tauntingly visible yet just out of reach. Two very different yet remarkably similar trains of thought were going through their heads.

"_Naruto-kun,"_ thought Hinata, as she nuzzled deeper into Naruto's chest, _"I love you so much; I just want to stay here with you like this forever. I can't remember ever feeling so happy, so safe, so at peace."_

Contrasting her contentment, Naruto was filled with a protective desire stronger than anything he had ever felt. _"She always accepted me, even though I was too blind to see it,"_ he thought.

"_All these years, she has been suffering because of my stupidity, but I will make it up to her. I'll get stronger, and no matter what happens, I will protect her. If Toramaru attacks us again, I'll give everything I have to beat him. If Akatsuki comes back, I'll destroy them. And if I do lose control of the Kyuubi, I'll kill myself rather than let that damn fox hurt her."_

He snarled as he directed his thoughts at his inner demon,_ "Do you hear me Kyuubi? I'll die before I let you hurt her!"_

Kakashi knew he was supposed to go strait home, but he didn't. _"After all,"_ he mused, _"if I went straight to where I was supposed to go, I would ruin my reputation."_

He nodded to several ANBU that he knew from his time as a member, before entering Konoha's secret, high security prison facility. He smiled behind his mask, too many of the guards owed him favors for them to stop him, and besides, they all knew who he was here to see.

The sound of his cell door opening roused Sasuke from his brooding. "It has been a long time, Kakashi-sensei," he said without looking up.

"Yes it has," Kakashi replied without emotion, "I was hoping you might enlighten me as to what you hoped to accomplish by attacking the Konoha elders. I confess that I don't see what you could hope to gain from their deaths, even if your attack had been successful."

"Don't be stupid sensei," came the scornful reply, "you know what I would have gained. I am an avenger. My ambition is to restore my clan, and to avenge their deaths."

Kakashi smiled humorlessly, "I know, but I also seem to recall that your brother was your target –seeing as he was the one who slaughtered you clan – and I believe you already killed him."

"My brother killed our family at the request of Konoha's elder's!" Sasuke snapped, losing his temper. "He killed our family to protect the village from our father's coup d'etat! That bastard Danzo convinced Itachi that the Uchihas' actions would start another great war, and got him to betray us."

That got Kakashi's attention. "Who told you that, Sasuke? How did you find that out?"

Sasuke snarled, "I've been in contact with Itachi's associates in the time since I killed him, and they have been much more forthcoming with information than Konoha ever was. I shouldn't have turned down that request to take Itachi's place in Akatsuki. If I had a partner to match my skills instead of weak underlings, I would have brushed you all aside and fulfilled my revenge, even with that drooling lunatic crawling out of the woodwork!"

Kakashi was quiet for a moment, then replied, "I don't know anything about a coup d'etat, or Itachi's reasons for his actions. But as to that last bit, you and Naruto together couldn't take Toramaru down, and Naruto is more than a match for you, Sasuke."

"And as for your revenge, what would that do? As I see it, you got your revenge on Itachi, but it didn't make you feel any better or bring back your family, so you took the easy way out and found someone else to hate and seek vengeance against. I assure you, killing the elders wouldn't have brought anyone back either, nor brought you any closure."

"You have already seen what lies at the end of that road, hating everything and living only to kill others. If you continue to walk that path, you will wind up exactly like the 'drooling lunatic' who stole your eyes and destroyed your legs." With these words, Kakashi turned, and walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

P.S. – despite my earlier warning of disturbing/adult content, the affection between Neji and Hinata is family support. There will be no incest in my fanfic!

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 5. – Enemies, Both Foreign and Domestic.**

It had been almost two hours, but Naruto and Hinata continued to sit on the bed, clinging to each other, lost in their thoughts and their newfound love. They took turns crying and comforting one another, drying tears of joy and tears of sorrow alternately.

Both the jinchuuriki and the Hyuuga heiress were slowly relaxing; setting aside the emotional burdens they had carried for so long. For Hinata, it was the first time in eleven years that she felt safe. For Naruto, it was the first time in his life that he felt loved.

Finally, Hinata spoke, breaking the silence. "Naruto-kun, thank you. Thank you so much." She said, then broke down into a whimper.

Naruto, unsure of exactly how to comfort the crying girl, awkwardly, but ever so tenderly, rocked her back and forth – it had worked in Ero sennin's book, after all.

"Shh, it's all right," he whispered, "don't cry. I'm here for you, Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled through her sniffles as she continued, "I'd forgotten what it felt like to not be afraid. No one has just held me like this – so that I felt safe and loved – since my mother died. With you, I know that I'm accepted. I don't have to meet impossible expectations, and I know you'd never do anything to hurt me."

"Hinata," Naruto said, also beginning to tear up again, "are you sure you should trust me so much? I, I don't really know what love feels like. I, I think that I love you, and I want to love you, but I can't be sure. I'm sorry, Hinata."

At this, Hinata pulled herself closer to Naruto.

After taking a deep breath, she said, "N-naruto-kun, even if you aren't sure what love feels like, I am. I am a shinobi, I'm trained to read e-emotion, and when we're this close I-I can sense your chakra, even without using byakugan. What you feel right now, i-it's love."

"Just let me be with you, Naruto-kun," the teary eyed Hyuuga begged, "let me show you what love is. I can tell that you love me, even if you don't know how to love. I'll show you what love feels like."

"Hinata," Naruto said gently, "of course we can be together. I want to be with you. It's just… you're so kind, so strong, so beautiful, so… so perfect. I feel like I don't deserve you, like you deserve someone better than –"

At this point the young couple was interrupted by arguing voices outside the door.

"No, you have to stay your wheelchair!" Naruto recognized the frustrated voice of his teammate.

"Enough, woman, Hokage-sama healed me already, I'm not an invalid!" Hinata giggled at her cousin's irate voice.

"But you can't see! Your eyes are –"

"My eyes are healing; I can see well enough, I just can't use the byaku– WHOA!"

The door opened and Neji and Sakura tumbled into the room in a heap, a wheelchair sandwiched between them. Despite their best efforts, Naruto and Hinata burst into laughter as Neji and Sakura glared at each other, then said in almost perfect unison, "Now look what you've done!"

Sakura stood up and shot Neji another icy glare before using her chakra enhanced strength to lift him – over his protests – into one of the guest chairs. She gave Naruto and Hinata a withering look before reporting, "Neji insisted on speaking to Naruto. I'll be back to collect him in half an hour." She stormed out amidst more smothered giggles.

After the three remaining Ninjas had composed themselves, Neji said, "Hinata-sama, I am glad to see that you two have become close, but with respect, you should not be so open about it. Think of what the clan elders would do if they found out."

Hinata paled – which was quite an achievement – and clutched Naruto's arm at this, but Naruto was confused. "Why should they care, it's none of their business," he said.

Neji sighed. "As a pure-blooded member of the main family, Hinata is supposed to marry within the Hyuuga clan to preserve the purity of the Hyuuga bloodline and the strength of the byakugan. Once, all of the great clans had similar traditions, and it is still common in clans with kekei genkai."

Naruto was outraged. His eyes became slits and the whisker-like marks on his face darkened.

"What do you mean, 'to preserve the purity of the bloodline?'" he demanded. "I don't care if the clan has a kekei genkai to protect, they can't breed people like animals! You can't treat people like that! Does Tsunade-baachan know about this?"

Hinata grabbed Naruto's arm and stroked his shoulder soothingly, while Neji said, "Calm down, Naruto. Forced marriage was outlawed by the third Hokage, so they can't actually force Hinata to marry anyone. It's just a custom."

This news calmed Naruto visibly, and he became wholly human again. When he got his breathing back under control, he asked, "Then why did you warn her to be careful about showing me affection?"

Neji smiled. "You're getting smarter, Naruto. The old you probably would have forgotten about that. It is true that the elders can't force Hinata to get married, or else she would probably already have kids by now."

Hinata shuddered at the thought of bearing children for a man she didn't love, and Naruto's eyes widened, but Neji continued, "The elders do have great political power within the clan, however, and they have many methods to make her life – and yours – difficult should she disobey them, so for now, please keep your relationship a secret."

Naruto didn't like the idea of having to hide his newfound love, but the thought of Hinata's brief moment of panic, and of the fear she had shown, was more than enough to sway his mind.

"All right," he said, and turned to Hinata, "if it will make your life easier, then we'll keep us a secret. Is that what you want, Hinata?"

Hinata, her eyes downcast, hesitated a moment, then replied, "Yes. Thank you, Naruto-kun. I want to tell everyone that we're together, but Niisan's right; it would cause problems. I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."

Naruto shook his head and smiled, "No, it's alright Hinata-chan. No matter what happens, I'm here for you. I'll do whatever it takes to protect my precious people, and now you've become my most precious person. If protecting you means we have to sneak around, then we'll make sure nobody else knows about us."

Hinata threw her arms around him again, then whispered, "You were wrong, Naruto-kun. You're the one who deserves better. I promise you, I'll become better for you. Thank you so much, for everything."

"Ahem."

Both Naruto and Hinata turned to look at Neji.

"Much as I hate to interrupt the two of you," he said, "if you do want to keep your relationship secret, then Hinata-sama should go home before Hiashi-sama begins to wonder where she is."

Hinata sighed. She could tell that Neji wanted to talk to Naruto without her listening, but he did have a valid point.

"Ok, Niisan," she said, before turning to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, you get out this afternoon, right?"

"Yeah. Hey, let's meet by the training grounds at 3:00!"

Hinata smiled as she stood up. "I'd like that," she said, "but I'm not sure if I can. I'll try to be there, though."

Naruto and Hinata smiled at each other once more, then Hinata gave a little wave before closing the door behind her.

"So Neji, what do you want to talk about?" asked Naruto. "I would assume that it has to do with me and Hinata."

Neji looked around nervously, then said, "Naruto, what I'm about to tell you must not leave this room, understood? I am going reveal some secrets that Hiashi-sama has kept from Hinata, most of which I am not supposed to know either. This has to stay secret, or things could get very bad for both me and her."

Naruto nodded, slightly confused, then asked, "But if it's about Hinata, then I can talk to her, right? She knows, doesn't she?"

Neji shook his head, "As much as I would like to, I can't tell Hinata-sama any anything her father doesn't want her to know. It's because of this." He tapped his forehead, where the Caged Bird Seal was.

Naruto frowned, "So you can't tell Hinata, but you can tell me? That doesn't make any sense."

Losing his patience, Neji snapped, "Naruto, I can tell you because you aren't the one I'm supposed to keep secrets from. Now do you want to keep asking questions about how the Caged Bird Seal works, or do you actually want to hear what I'm trying to tell you so that you can protect Hinata?"

That shut Naruto up.

Neji sighed and continued, "Let's start at the beginning. The Hyuuga clan's internal power structure consists of the clan head, Hiashi-sama, and the clan elders. Individually, the clan elders have far less power than the clan head, but if enough of them agree on something, they can overrule the clan head. Most clans have a similar power structure."

Naruto nodded, but it was obvious that he didn't see what any of this had to do with him and Hinata.

Neji continued, "Now, ever since she was a small child, the clan elders have been unsatisfied with Hinata-sama. They feel that she is not strong enough as a ninja to become the next clan head, but that's not all. They also think that the head of the Hyuuga needs to be cold, logical, and ruthless, and Hinata has never been any of those things."

"Now, because the clan elders don't like Hinata, they put pressure on Hiashi-sama to disown her – ah ah ah, no interrupting, Naruto," Neji said. "Now Hiashi-sama would not disown Hinata, but eventually he agreed to a compromise; he disinherited Hinata and named Hanabi as his heir."

Naruto had bitten his lip to keep himself from interrupting, and he was now bleeding as his teeth were becoming fangs. "So this is the truth behind the rumors I've heard about how badly Hiashi treats Hinata?" the jinchuuriki growled.

"No, not quite," Neji replied, "Hiashi-sama actually does his best to protect Hinata-sama from the elders, but he knows that he can't always protect her, so he tries to toughen her up, hence the rumors of abuse and neglect. In his mind, he is helping her by driving her to become stronger, but the truth is that all he does crush her self confidence and break her spirit, and she's left weaker than she was before. He doesn't listen to anyone who tells him that he is hurting her rather than helping her, and no one can make him stop because he is the head of the clan. Even the Hokage has very little authority over clan matters."

After finishing his narrative, Neji looked at Naruto, then asked, "Do you understand why I told you all this, Naruto? I can't do anything to protect Hinata-sama from any of this, so you have to support her. She has always drawn strength from you; she needs you. I don't know how much more she can make it through by herself."

"If all this is true," Naruto demanded, "then why are we letting her go back to that place? We need to get her out of there, now!"

"Calm down, Naruto," was Neji's reply. "It isn't that simple. She is part of the main house. If she were to try to leave now, she would just be dragged back, and it would give the elders an excuse to apply the Caged Bird Seal. Then they could make her do whatever they wanted, and it would be considered a clan matter. None of the village's laws would protect her."

"Then what can we do?" demanded Naruto. "We can't just leave her like this!"

"I said calm down," Neji repeated. "I have a plan, but it will take a little time, and I couldn't start on it until I had fully explained the situation and could be positive of your full cooperation. For now though, you just need to be there for her and support her while I take care of the rest. I'll let you know when it's time for you do more."

"_I wonder what Neji-niisan wants to talk to Naruto-kun about?" _Hinata wondered as she left._ "Maybe he wants to give him 'The Talk,'"_ She blushed at the thought of Neji setting her and Naruto a curfew and making vague threats about where a 'misthrown' kunai could land, then hurried back 'home,' – or at least the closest thing she had to one.

"Ah, Hinata-sama," the guard at the entrance to the Hyuuga complex greeted her. "Hiashi-sama has requested your presence in the meditation chambers for a special training session."

Hinata froze. She knew what the 'special training' sessions in the meditation chambers consisted of. She would be trapped in some horrific genjutsu and forbidden from breaking out with the byakugan until she had achieved the objective of whatever scenario her father had chosen to have her simulate.

But she also knew that she had no way of getting out of it, and that Hiashi would get angry if she was late. She ran to the meditation chambers and entered quickly before bowing.

"Ah, Hinata, how kind of you to grace us with your company," Hiashi's sarcastic tone cut her like a blade.

"F-forgive me, f-father. I o-only just ret-turned to the compound."

"Oh, and where then, pray tell, were you?" Hiashi sneered.

"I-I was at the, the hospital, father, v-visiting Neji-n-niisan."

"Hmph," Hiashi sat down. "Today we are going to review several of your last missions using a genjutsu simulation. We will discuss mistakes you made, what possible consequences of those mistakes could have been, and plans to avoid repeating those mistakes in the future." Every time he said the word 'mistakes' it was like a whip crack, and Hinata cringed accordingly.

"Now, let's begin."

"Doton: domimi no jutsu – release!"

Hidden in a cavern deep underground, Toramaru smiled.

"Really, they are slow learners, aren't they Hiruhime?" the madman asked his sword. "You would think that after I had learned there plans once, they would start encoding their conversations. This is another example of what I've been talking about; see how soft they have all gotten in this age of peace? They never once considered that walls might contain enemy spies. The world needs war. Without war, society becomes bloated and gangrenous. It's high time that the weak were culled from the heard."

As he recited his deranged rhetoric to the katana, his thoughts drifted back to the information that he had just learned. _"So the jinchuuriki has a lover, does he? And she has such a tragic past. Both so broken, the poor dears were made for each other."_

Slowly at first, but increasing in both speed and volume, Toramaru began to laugh. This was going to be fun.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 6. – The Hunt Begins.**

Naruto had been at the training grounds for almost half an hour before Hinata showed up. He was meditating, practicing drawing in natural energy to form sage chakra, so he was aware of her approach despite her silence.

"Hey, Hinata!" he called out without looking up, "I was starting to worry about you."

"S-sorry I'm late, Naruto-kun," she said weakly.

"It's alright, I've just been training, and I would probably have been here anyway, so don't wor–" he stopped mid-sentence as he turned to look at her.

She was a mess. Her posture was hunched, suggesting extreme exhaustion, and she was limping slightly. Her eyes, normally a hauntingly beautiful white, were bloodshot and swollen, and her face was tearstained. Despite her best attempts to clean herself up, she had the look of a shell shocked survivor, who had seen terrible things that no one should ever have to endure.

In a flash, Naruto was standing at her side, arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Oh, Hinata-chan, what have they done to you?" he asked softly, pulling her in closer to his chest, then slowly lowering her until the two of them were sitting on the soft grass.

Hinata, hating for Naruto to see her looking so pathetic, began to cry again, and in response, Naruto gently pulled her into his lap, and then tenderly kissed the top of her head, making her blush in spite of her pain.

"It's alright," he reassured her, "you're safe here. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

"No, Naruto," Hinata sobbed, "I don't want to be a burden on you. I don't want to be this weak. I don't want –"

"Shh." Naruto placed his finger over her lips, then told her, "You aren't weak, Hinata-chan. You are one of the strongest people I know. No matter what happens to you, you never give up. Even when it hurts so much that you can't stop crying, you always get back up and keep going. You are unbelievably strong, Hinata-chan. Please don't ever call yourself weak."

Hinata smiled through her tears. She had been dreading the shame of being pitied, but Naruto's tone didn't hold pity. Instead it held genuine sympathy and profound sorrow that she was suffering, coupled with an earnest desire to comfort and protect her.

"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun. You always believe in m-me, even though I'm just a b-burden to you. You always help m-me up when I fall." Hinata said, "Any strength I have, y-you gave to me, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at her, then whispered in her ear, "You are strong, Hinata-chan. I see your strength whenever I look at you. But you don't need to suffer by yourself. We have both spent our whole lives suffering by ourselves, and I don't want that for either of us anymore. No one should have to be that strong." He kissed her forehead once again, dried her tears, and then said, "Now, tell me what happened."

Almost against her will, Hinata started talking, and soon everything spilled out; her father's 'special training,' the genjutsu simulations, being forced to relive worst case scenarios of all her missions, and watching her friends and comrades suffer and die in horrific ways because of her mistakes.

As he listened to Hinata, Naruto felt like his heart was being squeezed with incredible strength.

"It's alright, Hinata-chan," he told her softly. "It was all just a genjutsu, nothing bad happened to anyone. None of it was real. It's just genjutsu, it's like… like a bad dream."

"A-a bad dream?" Hinata repeated, questioningly.

"Yeah," Naruto whispered, "Like a bad dream. It's scary and painful, but it's not real, and when you wake up, everything is ok. It doesn't mean anything, so try to forget about it."

"_Hiashi, you bastard,"_ he thought angrily, _"how could you do this to your own daughter? How could you possibly think that that would benefit Hinata? I would have given anything to have a family growing up, but Hinata's family has hurt her so much. Oh, Kami, how can I save her?"_

At that moment, Neji was busy working on his promised answer to Naruto's dilemma, though his desire was far more ambitious than that of the jinchuuriki.

"_If my plan works,"_ Neji thought,_ "it will mean freedom for anyone seeking to escape an oppressive clan. It could be the end of the Caged Bird Seal, discrimination against branch families, all the injustices of the clan system."_

There was a knock on the door, and Neji quickly resealed the paperwork he had been reading into its storage scroll.

The door opened to reveal Tenten carrying another storage scroll.

"Here Neji, I got those books on clan treaties you wanted," she told him.

"Thank you Tenten-chan," he replied, taking the storage scroll and putting it next to the others on his bedside table.

"Should you really be reading so much?" Tenten asked. "I mean, your eyes are injured, right?"

"Technically, my eyes aren't injured; the chakra pathways in them are injured," Neji replied. "As such, I can see perfectly well, I just can't use the byakugan until they heal. All this reading is fine."

Tenten frowned, then asked, "So why do you keep asking for legal documents? It isn't exactly what most people would read to pass the time in the hospital. What are you scheming, Neji? Tell me what's going on."

Neji smiled. "I'm finding out what the requirements are to have a family be legally recognized as a clan," he told her, then took the documents he had been reading earlier back out of their scroll and picked up where he left off.

"You're a hard man to track down, Hachibi-san."

The dark-skinned man stopped walking, and slowly turned around.

"My name is Killerbee, stupid," he said. "You're not wearing one o' those stupid coats, so you're not Akatsuki. What do you want, stupid idiot?"

"My name is Toramaru," the mad ninja told the jinchuuriki, "and unlike Akatsuki, I don't want to capture you. Right now I want to thank you on behalf of the entire human race. Because you abandoned your village, Kumogakure and Konohagakure are on the brink of war, and the world needs a good war so badly right now."

"Just how stupid are you, stupid," asked Killerbee, "that you're thanking me for something like that?"

Toramaru grinned, "I'm used to that attitude. So few people can look past their own pain to see the true beauty of war. But enough chitchat, let's begin."

"Begin what, idiot?" asked Killerbee, becoming annoyed.

"Why our duel to the death, of course," replied Toramaru. "I need to kill you, as an apology to my beloved Hiruhime. She wanted to kill the Kyuubi, but after feeling him out, I realized that we simply don't have enough chakra to go toe to toe with him when he's at full power. So we need to kill you, and consume your power. Once Hiruhime has the power of the Hachibi to lend me, my superior skills will allow me to crush the Kyuubi's container."

Toramaru drew Hiruhime, then said, "Additionally, I've heard of your seven sword style, and as a fellow swordsman, I want to fight you and test it out…Now, I know that you went easy on the Uchiha when you fought him, but two weeks ago I cut his spine in two and was disappointed by how easy it was to do so. Thus, I'd like you to come at me with all your might, no holding back – otherwise, you have no hope of surviving."

Killerbee snorted and drew his swords. The air was thick with chakra as the two shinobi took up their sword stances. Then, suddenly, they rushed toward each other.

SLAM!! Tsunade choked and dropped her sake cup as the door to her office flew open and Shizune rushed in.

"Tsunade-sama, they found him!" the Hokage's assistant yelled. "They picked up Toramaru's trail!"

After a moment of hacking and coughing, Tsunade replied, "Get Kakashi and Shikamaru in here now, and have team Kurenai, Naruto, and Sakura all stand by to mobilize. Tell them they have three hours to prepare."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Shizune bowed quickly and left the room.

"_Between the Inuzuka and the Aburame, we should have picked up his trail about a week ago," _Tsunade thought._ "This has to be a trap, but we can't afford to not follow up on this; we can't ignore a rogue shinobi of that level. Too many of our elite forces are still incapacitated from Pain's attack to mount a realistic search and destroy mission, so a surveillance team with a guard and a medic tacked on will have to do. With team Kurenai and Kakashi as trackers, and Shikamaru to keep everyone out of trouble, hopefully Naruto and Sakura won't be necessary."_

Tsunade knew better than to place much hope in that last part.

"See, I told you you'd look great in that, Sakura!"

After several shopping trips and multiple buckets of ice cream, Ino's efforts to cheer Sakura up were finally beginning to bear fruit. The two young kunoichi were enjoying themselves, and Sakura was moving past her pain.

Despite her initial heartbreak, Sakura had come to accept that she had missed her chance at Naruto's heart. This was not a painless process, however, nor was it a quick one, and when Shizune's message arrived and informed the medic-nin that she would be on a mission with Naruto and Hinata, she was hardly enthusiastic.

"Look at it this way;" Ino told her, "this is your chance to win him back. If you do really awesome on the mission, you can impress Naruto and send that little Hyuuga home wrecker packing."

"Not likely," Sakura replied sadly. "It's a surveillance mission – Hinata's specialty. The only chance I'll get to show off is if everything goes to hell, which Tsunade might expect it to if she's sending me and Naruto along. He's a combat specialist and I'm a medic, after all, hardly standard surveillance team members."

What Sakura didn't tell her friend was that, although it hurt, she had made peace with Naruto and Hinata's relationship. She had seen how they looked at each other, and could tell that what the jinchuuriki felt for the Hyuuga was much deeper than what he had once felt for her. Sakura, whatever else she was, was no fool, and she could tell that any attempts to sabotage Naruto's new relationship would only result in the loss of his friendship. What's more, she honestly wanted Naruto to be happy, and since he was obviously happy with Hinata, she wouldn't do anything to interfere.

Ino saw the pained look on Sakura's face, and decided to change the subject.

"So anyway," she asked, "has Tsunade-sama said anything else about Sasuke?"

"Nothing new," Sakura answered. "Theoretically, she might be able to save his legs, but the elders won't let her perform the operation on a missing nin who tried to attack the village. And even Tsunade-sama can't do anything about his eyes."

"But Neji's eyes are healing," Ino interrupted. "Why won't Sasuke's eyes heal?"

Sakura shrugged, and answered "Apparently Sasuke's eyes were already damaged from use of the mangekyou sharingan. You know that medical jutsus can't heal damage to the chakra pathways. Sasuke's eyes might heal, or they might not, and there's nothing we can do about it either way."

In their secret lair, the last three members of Akatsuki – four, if you include multiple personalities – were discussing the current situation.

"So what do you plan to do about Toramaru, Madara?" Kisame asked. "You know that he hates us, and killing us will be the final end to whatever plans he has."

"Kisame is right, Madara," the white half of Zetsu's face said. "We don't have Pain to trap him in a chibaku tensei (heavenly earth explosion) this time. We need a plan for when he comes."

"It wasn't just chibaku tensei," Kisame interjected, "when we decided that he had grown too dangerous, it took me, Itachi, and Pain together to imprison Toramaru. I had to hold him off so that Itachi could hit him with genjutsu and Pain could grab him in the chibaku tensei. He kept breaking out of Itachi's genjutsu. Even the sword of totsuka couldn't hold him in its seal."

"Is it any wonder he wants us all dead?" the black half of Zetsu asked. "He was a founding member of Akatsuki, and we betrayed him; we kept him locked up for over ten years."

"We had no choice; he was growing more and more unstable."

Everyone turned to look at Madara, who continued, "Toramaru was insane, I knew that when I recruited him, but I thought he could be useful. However, it became obvious that he couldn't work as part of a group. His only goal was to surround himself with carnage."

"So do you have a plan for defeating him a second time?" asked Zetsu's black half.

"I did," Madara replied, "but I don't think it will be feasible by the time he comes for us. Toramaru will try to increase his power before he comes after us. Remember, revenge is a dish best served cold."

The leader of Akatsuki shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I think that our best option is to step up our timetable. All we can do is to try to set the Moon's Eye Plan into motion before he comes after us."

Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba met Kakashi and Shikamaru by the gates.

"I assume you have the details of our mission," Shino said in his monotone voice.

"Yeah," Shikamaru replied. "We're going to be trailing the guy who attacked Sasuke and Neji – Toramaru. We track him and send reports of his whereabouts via Shino's bugs, then tail him while we await further orders."

Naruto's knuckles cracked as his hands involuntarily clenched into fists.

"This is a surveillance only mission," Kakashi said, "we are to avoid direct confrontation at all costs until further notice. However, given that the target is an 'S' class shinobi, Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru are coming along to act as combat specialist, medic, and tactician respectively. The enemy's scent trail starts several miles east of here, and heads northeast, towards the border of the Land of Fire, and eventually towards the Land of Lightning."

Hinata fidgeted nervously at the thought of going to the country that had tried to kidnap her as child. Naruto noticed this and started to take her hand, then remembered that they were supposed to be a secret from everyone but their friends, and settled for giving her a reassuring smile. Hinata looked at him, then smiled back and blushed.

"Well," Shikamaru said, "if there aren't any questions, then let's head out. I'd like to get this troublesome mission over with."

And with that, the Konoha ninjas set out on their mission.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

"_**demon thought"**_

**Chapter 7. – A Gathering of Demons: Bijuu and Akuma.**

The Konoha ninjas had reached the marker where Toramaru's trail had been found.

"All right Kiba, you and Akamaru got the scent?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, we got it," Kiba replied, and Akamaru barked.

"How about you, Shino?" asked Kakashi.

"The pheromone trail begins here. Tracking it should not prove difficult" Shino told him.

"Just remember," Shikamaru told the group, "we're going slowly and carefully, and under no circumstances do we engage the enemy. Tsunade-sama thinks that this might be a trap, so no heroics. We're just here to gather information."

Everyone nodded, then followed Shino and Kiba as they followed Toramaru's trail.

"**RAAUUGGHH!!!"**

"Akuma kendo: taki wa wakeru (devil's sword technique: parting the waterfall)."

A massive blast of raw demonic chakra surged forward toward Toramaru. Far from being distressed, however, the deranged shinobi swung his sword, cutting the blast in half and parting the deadly chakra to either side; thus protecting most of his body even as his hands and forearms were charred black by the demonic power.

"Excellent, Hachibi-san, excellent!" Toramaru screamed, grinning madly in spite of his burns. "I've never felt so alive! Your control over the bijuu's power is remarkable, and the power of the Hachibi is greater than I had imagined! It makes my heart tremble to think that such power exists in this world. Come, attack me again! Show me the fury of a bijuu, the rage of a jinchuuriki; show me devastation worthy of Hell itself! Come on, come on! HURRY!!!"

"**Shut up and die, you stupid idiot!"** roared Killerbee, now wrapped in all the terrible splendor of his eight tailed demonic form. **"RAAUUGGHH!!!"**

The enraged jinchuuriki unleashed another demon blast, leveling more of the town that the two ninjas were swiftly transforming into ruins. Moving with inhuman speed, Toramaru dodged the deadly torrent of unholy energy.

"_It's as I suspected,"_ Toramaru thought _"a jinchuuriki's power increases exponentially with each tail released. If the Kyuubi boy had unleashed his full power, I would have died."_

With a bellowing howl, Killerbee broke into a sudden charge, trampling what turned out to be a water clone before reorienting on the real Toramaru, somehow managing to maintain speed and momentum through the change of direction despite his enormous mass.

In response Toramaru flew through a dozen hand signs in the blink of an eye before shouting, "Suiton: tsunami ga kizamu (water style: shredding tidal wave)."

Water exploded out of the ground, rearing up into a wave fifty feet high, before crashing down on Killerbee. As the water surged past him, the wave crests left horrific gashes in the jinchuuriki's demonic flesh, made all the more terrible because they didn't bleed, instead spewing fiery demonic chakra.

But Killerbee was fighting with all the power of the Hachibi no kyogyu. It would take more than a wave to stop him, and he plowed through Toramaru's jutsu, hardly slowed by the terrible wounds it inflicted on his demonic body. The head of the demon bull burst from back of the tsunami and lunged at Toramaru, catching the evil ninja by surprise. With a powerful toss of his head, Killerbee tore Toramaru in half with his horns.

"AAUURRGGHH–GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Toramaru's body was sent flying – in two different directions – trailing blood, entrails, and insane laughter. Seemingly oblivious to his missing legs, Toramaru was flashing hand signs with the incredible speed that he constantly displayed.

"NINPOU: NIKU HO-OH (ninja art: flesh phoenix)!"

Toramaru seemed to melt, both halves of his body becoming horrible blobs of writhing, spastic muscle fibers soaked in blood. The two pieces of his body flowed back toward each other like amoebas, before joining and twisting together to reform Toramaru's body.

"Hah, hah. Excellent! Hah, hah, hah, HUAURGH!" the evil shinobi panted, before clutching his stomach and coughing up blood.

"_That blow from the demon chakra left burns on my internal organs that niku ho-oh couldn't heal,"_ he thought. _"What a magnificent enemy! If I hadn't fed Hiruhime that immortal before the Konoha raid I would be dead. You've saved my life once again my beloved. But if I take any more hits like that, not even Hiruhime can save me. But don't worry beloved, I'll win this fight. I won't let anyone separate us again!"_

Toramaru stood up, and black spirals began to form across his skin. The veins around his eyes bulged and his pupils reshaped themselves into triangles as he activated the mangekyou sharinbyakugan, and he took a two handed grip on Hiruhime, holding the blade out to his right.

"Your power is great, Hachibi," Toramaru said, "but I wonder if you can survive my new technique."

Toramaru built up lightning chakra in his right hand and wind chakra in his left. He closed his left eye and fixed the gaze of his right eye directly behind his sword.

"**You're the one that's gonna die, stupid," **Killerbee roared, **"I'm gonna crush you again and again, stupid idiot!"**

The furious jinchuuriki charged forward, horns lowered, trailing demonic energy from his wounds.

"Akuma kendo: jigoku ryu no tsubasa (devil's sword technique: hell dragon's wing)!"

There was a black flash, like ebon dark lightning, and Killerbee's demonic form collapsed, then began to disintegrate.

"**Get up, quick!"**

"_Where am I?"_ thought Killerbee.

He was laying on the snout of the Hachibi no kyogyu, so he had to be in a mindscape, but it wasn't his mindscape. They were in some kind of twisting passage, but that was where the resemblance to a normal mindscape ended.

The Hachibi was wading through blood up to its elbows, indicating a depth of several stories. But worse were the walls. They appeared to be made of corpses, nailed together with swords, and occasionally one would twitch a foot. It was like something from a bad horror flick.

"What happened? Where are we?" Killerbee demanded.

"**Hell if I know!"** the bijuu told its host. **"That freak's sword turned black, then he damn near cut us in half, then it felt like when I got sealed, and then we wound up here."**

Killerbee tried to gather his chakra, only to find that he was unable to do so.

"Did we get sealed then?" Killerbee asked. "Are we inside that Toramaru freak?" _"I don't know anyone else crazy enough to have this fucked up of a mindscape."_

"**Shut up, I hear something," s**aid the Hachibi.

The jinchuuriki listened, and picked up a splashing sound, faint but growing louder, as of something very large moving though the canals of blood.

"It's getting close, get ready," Killerbee said.

Then suddenly everything went quiet.

After several tense moments, there was another splash behind them. Killerbee and the Hachibi whirled around to see a dark shapeless mass rising out of the blood. It lunged toward them, revealing a triangular maw filled with jagged teeth.

At his desk in Sunagakure, Gaara the Kazekage cried out in pain and clutched his head.

In Konoha hospital, Yamato jerked upright in bed, his hand burning.

In his secret hideout, Madara Uchiha was suddenly knocked flack on his back as the Gedo Mazo statue erupted into existence. The grotesque statue teetered back and forth slightly, and deep cracks split its surface.

Mid-stride, Naruto doubled over and grabbed at the seal on his stomach, gasping.

"Naruto!" his teammates shouted, as they ran to his side, but he had already lost consciousness.

Naruto found himself in the familiar, sewer-like maze of his mindscape.

"_Crap,"_ he thought, _"what does that damn fox want now?"_

"Might as well get this over with," he muttered, as he followed the Kyuubi's demonic aura to the gates of the seal.

"Alright Kyuubi, what do you want?" Naruto demanded, "I'm not going to let you out, so if that's what this is about, then stop wasting my time."

"_**Heheheh, to think that I would ever receive such insolence from a mere boy. Well, I suppose our day of reckoning will come soon enough, huhuhuhuhuh."**_

The Kyuubi chuckled ominously for a moment, its murderous grin showing seemingly endless amounts of fangs, as though space bent back on itself to allow the great beast more teeth in its huge but finite jaws.

"**What I want, brat, is to inform you that you are now the last of the jinchuuriki. What you, and everyone else sensitive to bijuu chakra, just felt was the death of the Hachibi no kyogyu,"** the Kyuubi said.

"So Akatsuki drained the Hachibi's host? Wait, nothing like that happened when they got Gaara, why's it different this time?" Naruto demanded.

"**Fool! It was not just the host, but the Hachibi itself that was slain!"** the fox demon snarled. **"And it was not Akatsuki that slew them! In fact, I would guess that it was that wretch who you allowed to defeat you and escape after he crippled your friend."**

The Kyuubi loomed out of the darkness of its cage, its eyes blazing like infinite whirling pools of blood and molten steel, an eternity of pain and fire – the eyes of a monster among monsters, promising madness and death to any who dared meet its gaze.

"**I remember Toramaru from the Great Ninja Wars. He will kill you, and then he will make your friends – your 'precious people' – beg for death, before granting their wish. You can't stop him, only I can. You've already proved that you're too weak to beat him. You'll have to choose, brat – him…or me."**

Suddenly Naruto was bombarded by scenes of the carnage and horror Toramaru would inflict on Konoha. He saw Kakashi, his friend, teacher, and leader, crucified and mutilated well beyond what any human could live through, yet obviously – and horribly – still alive, writhing in unspeakable agony. He saw Tsunade, the closest thing he had ever had to a mother, having Hiruhime thrust into her womanly parts, then pulled forward, slicing her down the middle. He saw Sakura, his childhood crush and beloved comrade, caught in a doton jutsu, then torn apart screaming as the rocks moved slowly back and forth in a grinding motion. He saw Konohamaru, his sometimes student and self-proclaimed rival, torn apart and devoured alive by summoned beasts. He saw Hinata, his old friend and newfound love, her eyes plucked out, her chakra sealed, and her feet broken and bound, being wrapped in the traditional robes of a concubine, then sold to a foreign clan in chains.

As Naruto saw all this and more, he fell to his knees screaming, "NO! NO! NO!!! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!!!"

The Kyuubi no kitsune, mightiest of the bijuu, pressed its face against its cage, its fangs bared in a bone chilling grin.

"**All that I have shown you, Toramaru has done in the past. All of it, and more – hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. What will you do, brat? Will you let him destroy and defile everything and everyone you've ever loved? Or will you unleash all my power, and set free the greatest demon in all the world, the beast said to be destruction incarnate? What will you do little ninja? What will you do?!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"**

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Naruto awoke with a start, causing Hinata and Sakura, who hand been watching over him since he passed out, to jump.

"You're alright!" he shouted, grabbing both girls in a crushing hug, tears of relief flowing freely down his cheeks. "Thank Kami, thank Kami."

"N-Naruto," Sakura stammered, slightly shocked at his outburst, "you're crushing us."

Hinata, on the other hand, clutched at Naruto as tightly as the jinchuuriki held her, whispering soft comforts in his ear with tears in her eyes at the sight of his pain – just like he had so recently done for her.

"Shh," she whispered, "we're here, Naruto-kun, and we're here for you. Everyone is fine, everything is ok."

"_That look on his face,"_ the pale eyed girl thought, _"it's just how I look after Father's genjutsu simulations. What happened to him?"_


	8. Chapter 8

**Before I begin on my usual disclaimers and warnings, I would like to sincerely apologize to my readers for taking so long to post this chapter. Between work, the start of fall term, and some particularly frustrating writers block, it's been difficult to work on. Also, I would like to remind you all that I often go back and edit old chapters. Usually the changes I make are ridiculously small – rephrasing for clarity, grammar editing, etc. – but in this case some people might find the addition to the Akatsuki conversation in chapter 6 to be important. I would like to thank you all for your patience and ask that you continue to bear with me as I explore the world of fanfiction.**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 8. – Twisted Schemes.**

After waking up from his ordeal with the Kyuubi – and having his further attempts at relief filled group hugs violently rejected by the other males – Naruto was restless. Unable to sleep, he volunteered to take the first night watch, sitting at the edge of the camp and gathering sage chakra to monitor the surrounding area.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said without looking up, as the jounin in question walked up to him and leaned against a tree next to where Naruto was sitting.

"Hey, Naruto," Kakashi said, "I noticed that you've been very quiet recently, and especially since you woke up earlier. Care to tell me what's bothering you?"

Naruto sighed, "Nothing gets past you, does it Sensei?"

"Not really," Kakashi replied, "now, is it something about the mission? Or is it about Sasuke again?" Kakashi grinned and added teasingly, "Or are you already having troubles with your new lady friend?"

Naruto glanced sharply at Kakashi, but then – realizing that the last part had been a joke – he shook his head and sighed again.

"Well," he explained, "it's just that, after talking with Pain, I thought I was beginning to understand people. But with Toramaru, I don't understand him at all. He didn't show any hatred when he attacked us, but his killing intent was off the scale! He was being as cruel as Orochimaru was, but Orochimaru hated Konoha. Why would Toramaru want to hurt us so much when he doesn't hate us, or even seem to dislike us? It just doesn't make any sense."

Now it was Kakashi's turn to sigh. _"For all the growing up fast that you've had to do as a ninja, you're still a child in so many ways, aren't you Naruto,"_ he thought.

"No, Naruto, it doesn't make any sense," Kakashi told his student, "but some people just don't make any sense. Some people don't need a reason to want to hurt people. They just do."

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi paused, thinking of how to explain to the idealistic young ninja what he was trying to say.

"Some people," he finally continued, "just want to hurt other people. They don't have any good reason, they just…they have something wrong with them. Sometimes they have had traumatic experiences, and something inside them gets broken, so that they hate everyone and everything. And – once in a great while – someone will just be born with something fundamentally wrong with their mind, so that they need to hurt people, or else they can't function, and/or they just enjoy hurting people. Either way, it's a form of insanity. People like that are called sociopaths."

Naruto thought about this for a while, then asked, "How do you fix people who are like that, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Sometimes you can't," Kakashi replied sadly. "The mind is far more complex than the body, and each person is different. There's a special ward in the hospital called the psych ward for people with mental problems – I believe Ino does a lot of work there. The doctors try to help the patients there, but sometimes, you can't fix someone, and then they have to be locked up – and have their chakra sealed, if they're a ninja – so that they can't hurt anyone."

Naruto absorbed all this in silence. After a few moments, he asked, "So if there are people like that in the world, then are peace and understanding really just pipe dreams?"

"Maybe they are," Kakashi replied, "but I don't think so. Psychosis has always existed, but very few people actually suffer from it. Don't give up on your dreams just because we've encountered one person who's beyond help. And even if I thought peace was a pipe dream, I would still believe in it and work to make it happen. There are some things that are worth believing in, even when they seem impossible."

Naruto smiled, then said, "Thanks, Sensei. I guess I needed to hear that. I'm so lucky to have an awesome sensei like you."

"Heh," Kakashi smiled, but his thoughts were less cheerful, _"You say that Naruto, but the truth is that I failed you as a sensei. In the beginning, when you needed me, I was spending all my time with Sasuke, trying to keep him from going nuts, but he left anyway. I failed you and Sakura by focusing on Sasuke, and then I failed Sasuke anyway. I'm a failure as a sensei, but I've been trying hard to make it up to you, ever since you and Jiraiya got back."_

"I'm glad you're feeling better Naruto, but there is something else that we need to talk about," Kakashi informed his student.

"What is it, Sensei?" Naruto asked, his voice serious again.

"It's about Toramaru," Kakashi said. "After analyzing the surveillance data from when he attacked you and Sasuke, Shikamaru and I have reached a conclusion with about the objectives of the attack."

"He was trying to hurt Sasuke and Neji, so that he could take their kekei genkai, wasn't he?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, and Juugo too," Kakashi answered, "but we believe that there was more too his scheme than that. Why would he go out of his way to taunt you and goad you on like he did, and why didn't he finish anyone off? At first we were hesitant to draw the conclusion that we did, because it seemed so insane, but on the other hand we had already established that Toramaru is completely crazy…"

"You're starting to freak me out, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto told his teacher, "what are you trying to say?"

Kakashi sighed. This was hard. "He wants the Kyuubi, Naruto."

"Yeah, so does Akatsuki," Naruto replied. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No Naruto," he explained, "I don't mean like Akatsuki. We're convinced that what Toramaru wants is for you to fully unleash the Kyuubi. He wants you to set it free."

"_The Hachibi's power is magnificent,"_ Toramaru thought to himself. _"Its chakra is incredibly strong and there is enough of it to last for years if I'm careful with it, not that I'll need it for that long."_

He looked around the ruined village that he and Killerbee had destroyed during their battle, and smiled sadistically.

"_Well,"_ he thought, _"I'd better get started. The trackers from Konoha will be here soon, and I want them to feel welcome when they get here. Especially the Kyuubi and his little vixen."_

The new pseudo-jinchuuriki chuckled evilly as he began to set his trap.

"_I'll show them what happens when a pack of pups tries to corner a tiger."_

"Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage, isn't he?"

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork at Neji's question.

"Yes, he is," Tsunade admitted, knowing that trying to lie to Neji would be pointless.

"Does he know?" the Hyuuga prodigy asked.

"Yes," Tsunade responded. "He found out during the incident with Pain; apparently Minato appeared in his mindscape to reseal the Kyuubi."

Neji nodded, then asked, "So when are you planning to grant him his title and inheritance as the sole survivor of the Namikaze clan?"

"Well, he won't legally come of age for almost two years; I was planning to formally grant his inheritance – both from his parents and from Jiraiya – then." Tsunade told Neji.

"But you could technically grant him his inheritance sooner, since he is a Konoha shinobi," Neji pointed out.

"I'm getting tired of this game Neji, just tell me what you want," Tsunade demanded.

Neji bowed, "My apologies, Hokage-sama," he said, "I'll come to the point. When Naruto returns from his mission, I want you to grant him his full inheritance, with one small exception. I don't want you to give him his title as head of the Namikaze clan. Instead, I want you to recognize the Uzumaki as a new clan of Konohagakure."

Tsunade rubbed her temples and reached for a sake bottle.

"Very clever, Neji," Tsunade said. "As a new clan, he would have the right to negotiate his own treaty with the village, instead of being bound by the terms of the Namikaze clan's old treaty. So tell me, why are you so interested in Naruto's political standing all of a sudden? What do you hope to gain out of this, Neji?"

Neji answered, "I hope to gain freedom, and equality. Naruto has promised me his cooperation in my plan to bring reform to the injustices of the clan system. I'm going to have him, as the Uzumaki clan leader, ask for the right to grant asylum to anyone seeking to leave their old clan. If you, as Hokage, agree to that request as part of the Uzumaki clan treaty, then the other clans won't be able to hold branch family members captive while hiding behind their treaties and claiming 'clan business.' Once a safe haven for clan refugees has been established, all the clans will be forced to grant equal rights to branch families or risk loosing their secrets when the branch family members defect. In time, it could lead to the abolition of main/branch family distinctions altogether."

Tsunade needed a moment to compose her thoughts before she responded.

"Do you realize what that would do to Naruto?" she finally demanded. "And to yourself, and to me if I help you two go through with this plan? We might as well wear flashing neon targets on our heads. The council would hate us. Do you realize how much power they actually have? I would never be able to accomplish anything as Hokage again, the Hyuuga elders would fry your brain with the Caged Bird Seal, and Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage would die. Did you think about any of this while you were plotting your little revolution, Neji?"

Neji bowed his head as he answered, "I am fully aware of the hardships that we three would face, Tsunade-sama. But I was, and still am, confident that both you and Naruto will help me put my plan into action, not because it will benefit us, but because it will benefit Konoha, and Konoha's future generations. You will have to sacrifice your political relationships, but I always believed that you were a person who would do the right thing rather than the easy thing. Naruto will be making his dream more difficult to obtain, but I know that he will be willing to make that sacrifice. And finally, yes, I would be risking my life, but I feel that this undertaking is worth that risk. If I become a martyr to the dream of a free Konoha, then so be it; I can think of few better ways to die."

Tsunade sighed deeply. _"Neji's right,"_ she thought, _"if his crazy scheme does work, then it might be the best thing to ever happen to Konoha. I can't stand in the way of that, no matter how much I want to."_

"All right," Tsunade said, "When Naruto gets back from his mission, the three of us will discuss this further, and if he agrees, I'll play along with your scheme, and draw up a treaty with the Uzumaki 'clan.' Am I to assume you have a plan to counter the perfectly valid arguments that will arise against recognizing a single teenager as a clan?"

Neji smiled and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Hokage-sama, and yes, I do have a contingency prepared to deal with that eventuality."

"_And to ensure Hinata's happiness,"_ He thought.

"Hey guys, you better come see this!" Kiba whispered into his radio, accompanied by a bark from Akamaru.

At a nod from Kakashi, the rest of the group broke formation and ran to catch up to their quasi-canine point man. The sight that greeted them left them all shocked and appalled.

Before them lay the remains of the remains of the village that had hosted Toramaru and Killerbee's fight, but the more distressing aspect was the remains of the villagers who had been caught in the crossfire. Their bodies lay where they had fallen; some charred beyond recognition by Killerbee's demonic chakra, some torn apart and waterlogged by Toramaru's suiton jutsu, and some trampled into the ground beneath the Hachibi's feet. Finally, the icing on the cake was the sign, written on a wall in blood, displaying the symbol of Konoha!

"_OH SHIT!"_ Kakashi thought, recognizing this particular M.O. as an archaic declaration of war. A declaration that, to the rest of the world, would seem to be from Konoha directed toward Kumo.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

**Chapter 9. – Shadows Scar the Sunshine.**

"_This is very, VERY bad,"_ Kakashi thought as he surveyed the wreckage with Konoha's symbol over it. _"We walked right into this. If Kumo finds us at the scene of this massacre, it could start another war."_

"We need to get of here fast," the jounin told his team. "But first, we should destroy that symbol. Sakura, smash it."

"Hai, sensei," she replied, and began to run toward the blood painted wall.

She got about halfway to her target when a familiar sword burst from the ground and stabbed through her thigh, causing her to stumble and tear the wound open further.

"SAKURA!" Naruto and Kiba both yelled in concern.

As she fell, Sakura gritted her teeth against the pain and brought her fist down with earth shattering force. As the dust settled, she attempted to stand on her injured leg, channeling green healing chakra into her hand that clutched at the wound.

"He's here! Toramaru's he –" she yelled, before she was cut off by the unmistakable sensation of a heavy combat boot striking the back of her head. After that, everything went dark.

The others saw Toramaru leap up out of the ground and kick Sakura to the dirt. The insane ninja turned to face them, leaving her facedown and bleeding.

"I set a trap for Konoha's hounds and instead I catch their pups," he called out mockingly. "This is insulting. I see only two proper warriors among you. Kakashi-san, Kyuubi-kun, why did you bring the rest of this trash? None of your underlings are worthy of feeding my darling Hiruhime."

"You cocky bastard!" Kiba snarled. "I'll kill you!"

"Heh heh heh, the pup bares its teeth," Toramaru chuckled.

Kiba growled, but Shino gripped his shoulder and shook his head.

"You shouldn't underestimate them, just because they're young," Kakashi said. "They've all defeated powerful opponents in the past. They're not children."

"Have they watched their loved ones tortured to death, Kakashi?" Toramaru demanded. "Have they had to slit the throat of a wounded comrade to put him out of his misery? Have they had to kill old friends who turned traitor?"

The ex-Akatsuki member began to stride purposefully toward the Konoha team, radiating overwhelming levels of killing intent.

"No, they're just pups," he said scornfully, "one who fancies himself a wolf, one with fleas, two cringing bitches, and one who sleeps in the shade. I'm going to kill them all, with my bare hands!"

"Like hell you will!" Naruto shouted. "I won't let you lay a finger on them!"

Gathering his sage chakra, the blonde rushed forward to meet Toramaru, creating over 100 clones on the way.

"Suiton: bakushouha (water style: aquatic shockwave)!" Toramaru called out, and coughed up a small tidal wave.

About half the Narutos managed to evade – and thus survive – the watery blast by using the other half as springboards. The survivors flew toward Toramaru, intent on avenging their fellow clones.

"U-zu-ma-ki Naruto rendan!" they shouted, accompanying each syllable with punches and kicks.

Toramaru was driven to the dirt under the onslaught, but instead of getting back up, he simply sank into the earth and disappeared, his chakra signature vanishing.

The other Konoha ninjas saw Naruto's clones jump over the wave, then gasped as the wave formed itself into a dozen of Toramaru's water clones.

"Bring it on, asshole!" Kiba shouted, springing into action. "Jujin bushin no jutsu (man-beast clone jutsu), shikyaku no jutsu (quadruped jutsu)!"

Where before there had been Kiba and Akamaru, there now were two feral looking Kibas. They sprang toward Toramaru's clones and began to spin.

"Gatsuga!" the real Kiba called, as he and Akamaru blasted through one clone only to have another clone drop to his hands and mule kick them both with bone snapping force.

Meanwhile Kakashi had made several shadow clones and was engaging in a miniature war with more of the enemy's water clones.

"_The clones are this strong?!?"_ the copy ninja thought in disbelief as he desperately parried repeated sword strokes with his kunai. _"Water clones have only one tenth of a ninja's original strength. If his clones are this powerful, then Toramaru is at least as strong as Pain was. Looks like this fight is going to be up to you, Naruto."_

Shino and Shikamaru were fighting as a team, and were managing to hold their own against the Toramaru clones. Shino commanded his symbiotic insects to swarm around them, draining the life-giving chakra from any clone that got close and reverting it into harmless liquid, while Shikamaru sought to immobilize the enemy with shadows, rendering them easy targets. The clones quickly learned to keep their distance, and began to bombard the pair with jutsus.

Hinata was hard pressed by three of the water clones. She was fighting in top form, but like her teammates, she was out of her league. Even though her byakugan allowed her to see the enemy coming, their inhuman speed allowed them to slip past her defenses. The clones never scored a direct hit, but at the speeds the four combatants were moving even a glancing blow was enough to send Hinata reeling.

"I'm impressed by your agility," one of the Toramarus told her as she twisted to deflect his punch. "But we both know that you can't keep up this pace for long. You're already starting to slow down."

"The smart thing would be to kill yourself now," another clone chimed in, as he dropped low and almost tripped her with a leg sweep. "That way you can have a clean death, and I won't get a chance to 'play' with you."

"_He's right, I can't keep this up much longer,"_ Hinata thought, staggering and struggling not to panic, _"but I won't give up. Naruto-kun believes in me, and I can't let him down. I'll just destroy all three clones at once!"_

Hinata let herself fall into her stumble and rolled, handspringing back up to put distance between herself and the enemy. She began to rotate her arms at incredible speed. Sweat formed on her brow as thin, bladelike beams of chakra trailed from her extended palms, lashing like whips around her.

"Shugohake rokujuuyon shou (guardian trigrams sixty four strikes)!" she yelled, leaping forward to face her attackers.

The clones drew their swords like lightning and parried furiously, but Hinata's chakra blades simply bent around their swords to strike their bodies, slicing them in half and dispelling them.

Her enemies defeated, the Hyuuga princess released her jutsu. As the adrenaline burned out in her veins, she fell to the ground feeling the familiar effects of chakra exhaustion. She fumbled in her coat for a soldier pill, but it was too late, and the strain of performing such an advanced jutsu at the speed necessary to land a hit on Toramaru had been too great.

As her vision blurred, she murmured, "I did it, I-I beat them. Did you see me, Na-ruto-kun? Aah…"

Standing on a branch overlooking the battlefield, Toramaru smiled; everything was going according to plan. He suddenly stiffened, and then leaped to another tree as a rasenshuriken shredded the tree he had been standing in, reducing it to sawdust. Toramaru landed, then turned to address the trio of Narutos who had attacked him.

"Good, Kyuubi-kun, that was very good," the mad shinobi said. "That was a killing blow, struck from behind, with virtually no warning. And while I had assumed that you'd find me, you did so much faster than I anticipated. You've been practicing using your sage's senses, haven't you?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!! Oodama rasengan (great ball spinning sphere)!" Naruto shouted, leaping at Toramaru as his clones formed a massive chakra ball, over ten feet in diameter, in each of his hands.

"Akuma kendo: taki wa wakeru!" Toramaru shouted as he swung a chakra charged Hiruhime into the whirling balls of chakra, which exploded forward, tearing apart the surrounding forest.

Naruto was thrown back by the kick of unleashing the blast, but was unhurt, as the raging whirlwinds of chakra had been unleashed in the other direction. Toramaru, on the other hand, had his arms and shoulders peeled raw where the spinning chakra blast had curled around the shockwave he had released to block the attack.

"That's right, Naruto," the insane ninja cackled, seemingly oblivious to his blood running freely down his back and off his arms. "Get angry; embrace your fury! I want you to hate me. Show me your rage!"

"**I SAID SHUT UP!!! JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!!!"** screamed Naruto, growing claws and fangs as his sage chakra was used up and could no longer suppress the demonic power that his anger called forth.

"Yes, use the demon's power," Toramaru gloated, "our fight is meaningless unless you use your demonic strength."

Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself, before dispelling one of the clones he had sent to gather sage chakra. His demonic features instantly receded as he used the sage chakra to suppress the Kyuubi's power.

"Like I'd do what you want me to, you crazy bastard," he growled. "I'm going to beat the crap out of you, but I'm going to do it as a shinobi, not a demon."

"Very well," Toramaru replied, "I suspected that you might take that attitude. If you feel so strongly about it, then I won't force the issue. And just to show that there're no hard feelings, let's play a game. We'll race to Kumo's kekei genkai research facility, but first we have to pass the checkpoint – your white eyed girlfriend! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The evil ninja burst into maniacal laughter and vanished in a blur of motion.

"HINATA!!!" Naruto screamed, racing after Toramaru and yet knowing that he couldn't keep up with the missing nin's superhuman speed. **"HINATA, RUN!!!"**

Hinata heard Naruto's panicked screams, and tried to get up, but she was too weak from her fight. She felt a strong hand roughly grab the hood of her jacket and yank her up. Through blurred vision, she recognized Toramaru's mocking, fanged grin.

"No," she whispered, struggling desperately to move, to resist, to fight back, to do anything!

Toramaru's sadistic smile only grew wider, before he slammed her head into the ground.

Hinata's last thought before she blacked out was, _"Naruto-kun…help…"_

Naruto saw Toramaru grab Hinata off the ground and knock her out. He sprinted desperately to reach her, but the remaining water clones moved to intercept him.

"**GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"** he roared, three tails of red chakra erupting from his back and swatting the clones aside.

"**HINATA!!!"** Naruto screamed as he dashed toward her, but Toramaru dove underground, pulling the unconscious kunoichi with him.

"**NOOOOOOOOO!!!"**

"**It's time, boy."**

Naruto was back in the sewers of his mindscape, at the Kyuubi's sealed cage.

"**It's time to make your choice,"** the demon gloated. **"Will you let him take her to Kumo, or will you unleash my power?"**

"But if I use your power, you'll kill her too!" Naruto replied, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"**I'll kill her?"** the Kyuubi sneered. **"Oh no, brat, YOU will kill her. I don't control your actions, even when you use my chakra. But that's beside the point. It would be better for her if she died. She's a beautiful young girl who's been captured by an enemy who desperately wants her kekei genkai. We both know what Kumo will do to her, and that she will be begging for death before they're done."**

"No!" Naruto shouted, with tears in his eyes. "No, No, No, No, NOOO!!!"

The Kyuubi began to laugh as Naruto pounded the floor in horrified frustration at the choice before him.

"**Hahahahah, the clock is ticking, brat,"** the Kyuubi laughed. **"You can either unleash my power, or let your beloved 'Hinata-chan' become Kumogakure's newest adult attraction. Make your choice!"**

"Perhaps I can offer an alternative," said a cold, yet familiar voice from behind them.

Naruto whirled around, then froze in shock at the figure confronting them, as the Kyuubi bristled and snarled.

"Hello Naruto," said Itachi Uchiha.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

**Chapter 10. – A Dark Savior.**

Some part of Naruto's mind knew that he should be surprised at finding Itachi Uchiha in his mindscape, but he just couldn't bring himself to care while Hinata was in danger.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" the blond jinchuuriki called out.

"It's time for you to use the power that I once gave you," Itachi told him. "I had hoped that this time would not come, so that I could use you to continue to watching over Sasuke after my death. However, I will not abandon the Hyuuga girl to Kumo."

"What do you mean, 'watching over Sasuke?' And why do you want to help Hinata?" Naruto demanded.

"I'm not the monster you think I am, Naruto," Itachi said. "I killed my clan because I had no choice. My family was going to start a civil war, so I had to kill them. Sasuke alone knew nothing about it, so I didn't have to kill my little brother. I left and joined Akatsuki to protect him. Everything I've done in my life, I've done either for Sasuke or for Konoha. That is why I will not allow Kumo to lay hands on a leaf shinobi, especially a byakugan wielder."

Naruto, wary of the late Uchiha's intentions, asked, "How do I know that this isn't some trick? How can I trust you?"

Itachi replied, "Whether you trust me or not is entirely up to you, but without the gift I am offering, you will be unable to save the Hyuuga girl. You will be left with the choices that Kyuubi laid before you."

"Fine," Naruto told him. "What are you offering?"

"Simple," Itachi said. "I am offering you a limited form of my sharingan, usable only here, within your mindscape."

"**NO!!!"** the Kyuubi bellowed.

"How does that help any?" Naruto asked, confused.

"The sharingan is the only method ever to have successfully controlled the Kyuubi no kitsune," Itachi explained. "If I give you one usable here, then you can-"

"Control the fox and his chakra!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "Alright Itachi, do it."

"**DAMN YOU TO THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL, RETCHED UCHIHA!!!"** the fox demon howled. **"YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THIS! I WILL NOT SUBMIT TO THE LIKES OF YOU FILTHY MORTALS!!!"**

"Oh, but you will," said Itachi.

He walked over to Naruto, his form deteriorating into pure chakra as he went. Naruto stiffened as Itachi's chakra flowed into his eyes. Naruto gasped as he felt his eyes changing. They turned red, with the three tomoe marks that distinguished the Uchiha clan's famous kekei genkai.

"Now," Naruto said, turning to look into the eyes of his inner demon, "where were we?"

Kakashi and the others saw Naruto fall to his knees where Toramaru had pulled Hinata underground.

"_No…"_ Kakashi thought, as the fiery red chakra of the demon's cloak enveloped the blonde shinobi in front of him. He knew how close Naruto and Hinata had been, and he knew that with her taken, Naruto's rage would know no bounds.

"_Father, it looks like we may be reunited again sooner than we suspected,"_ Kakashi thought grimly, preparing to give his life to try to let the others escape from the upcoming demonic onslaught.

Then he noticed something. Naruto hadn't transformed, he had only formed the demon's cloak, yet he already had nine tails of burning chakra waving behind him!

"**Kakashi-sensei,"** Naruto growled through his demonic fangs, **"get everyone else out of here. Fall back and regroup. I'll catch up with you later, after I save Hinata."**

"Wait, Naruto-" Kakashi began, but Naruto was already running.

The jinchuuriki moved with inhuman speed, the wind of his passing tearing branches from trees and uprooting small bushes. His chakra tails lashed behind him and seemed to propel him to ever greater velocity. Naruto ran on, crashing heedlessly through obstacles that he simply couldn't spare the time to go around, not caring about the destruction he left in his wake. His mind was fully focused on his destination, and what was – to him – the most important mission he had ever undertaken.

"I'm coming, Hinata-chan, I'll save you," he whispered repeatedly, like a mantra of desperate determination. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Hinata awoke to pain. She tried to clutch her aching head only to discover that she was unable to move. She opened her eyes, she saw that she was strapped down to some kind of table in a small, dingy cell of some sort. She was able to see chakra suppression seals on her bonds, letting her know that she would be unable to use her chakra to escape even if she wasn't totally exhausted. There was even a gag of some sort – it felt like leather – placed in her mouth, probably to prevent her from biting off her tongue to commit suicide.

What troubled her the most, however, was the thin, greasy haired man with his back to her, arranging on a small table what seemed to be a mix of surgical implements and ninja equipment. Then Hinata heard a door open, and a man wearing a ninja vest and a Kumogakure headband entered the room.

The thin man addressed him without looking up, "She is a very interesting specimen. The initial examination revealed that her byakugan has a slight purple tint that I've never heard of; it's more lavender than white. I'm interested to find out if this is some higher level of activation, like the mangekyou sharingan, or a mutation from some other source."

"Well, Konoha does have a jinchuuriki," the Kumo ninja responded, "so she could have been exposed to demon chakra. Mutation due to demonic chakra is supposed to be the origin of all kekei genkai, isn't it Doc?"

"That is the most prevalent theory," the thin man – Doc – responded, "and I wish you wouldn't say 'demon chakra.' I've told you that it's called youki."

"Whatever, Doc," the ninja retorted. "Nobody calls it youki. It's just demon chakra."

The ninja muttered something about stuck up academic types under his breath, then casually said, "Anyway, the reason I came down here is that the boss changed his mind about the girl. He wants me to knock her up before you take out her eyes."

On hearing this Hinata's mind went blank, and a soul chilling horror seized her heart.

"_This can't be happening!"_ she thought desperately. _"Naruto-kun, save me, please!"_

As he ran, Naruto noticed another presence running alongside him.

"What's your hurry, Kyuubi-kun?" Toramaru called out mockingly as he ran up alongside Naruto.

"**YOU BASTARD!!!"** Naruto roared, lashing out with his claws and tails.

"_He's faster than before,"_ Toramaru thought as he was forced to release the first stage of his curse seal to dodge Naruto's attacks. _"He's got all nine tails out, but is only in the demon cloak form. He's different than last time, more in control. This could be interesting."_

Naruto continued his run, striking at Toramaru yet never deviating from his course.

"_I have to take him down,"_ Naruto thought, _"otherwise, he'll try to stop me from saving Hinata. But he doesn't know that I'm in control of the fox now. I've only got one shot at this, but it's my best chance to beat him."_

Naruto began the next stage of demonic transformation, burning away his skin as the Kyuubi's chakra merged with his body and took on a solid form.

"_Amazing,"_ Toramaru thought. _"He's controlling the Kyuubi at the same level that Killerbee controlled the Hachibi. Every time I think that I've taken the measure of his skills, Naruto shows improvement. He is truly a fascinating individual."_

Suddenly, Naruto whirled around and struck at Toramaru with his claws, moving even faster than before. Toramaru managed to parry the blow with Hiruhime in spite of his surprise, but that was exactly what Naruto wanted. The jinchuuriki grasped the sword with his left claw, and with his right he seized hold of Toramaru's hand, crushing it in his grip.

"**KYUU RASENONIGAN (nine spinning demon spheres)!"** Naruto howled, as his tails stabbed forward – each with a whirling ball of demonic power at the tip.

Toramaru screamed as the Kyuubi's power ripped into him. His arms and legs were completely torn off, and he could feel his spine shattering. His ribs were snapping like twigs, and his lungs exploded as demonic chakra burned through them. As his battered and broken body crashed into the dirt, he thought, _"Such power…it's magnificent…I want it…"_

Naruto tossed Toramaru aside, not sparing the insane ninja a second glance as he resumed his race to rescue his love.

Hinata was trying to be strong, trying not to cry, but it was a losing battle.

The Kumo ninja had torn off her coat and shirt first, then set about roughly fondling her breasts while 'Doc' readied a syringe and injected something into her arm.

She gasped through her gag as whatever the injection was took affect, and her entire body felt hot.

At her gasp, the Kumo ninja grinned sadistically, tore off her bra, and said in a mocking voice, "You like this, don't you?"

Hinata shook her head in denial, trying to hold back her tears of shame and violation, but the Kumo nin just laughed at her, even as the heat in her body intensified in her lower regions.

"Oh I think you do, you dirty girl," he told her, twisting her nipple cruelly. "Squeal for me, you filthy Konoha slut! You're Kumo's toy now, and we're all gonna' fuck your brains out, till you're begging for our dicks in all your holes, bitch. Hah hah hah hah!"

At this point, Hinata lost her composure and began to shed her pent up tears. As she struggled futilely against her restraints, her captor unzipped his pants and, drawing a kunai, began to cut her pants off of her legs, while bending over and running his tongue over her breasts and down her body.

Suddenly, Hinata's violation was interrupted, as the entire building shook. As her tormentor picked himself up of the floor, the terrified girl sensed a dark and terrible, yet familiar chakra, and hope returned to her heart.

A moment later, the door flew off its hinges and half a dozen identical blondes bearing claws and fangs rushed in.

"**HINATA!!!"** the Naruto clones all shouted in unison, and three of them hastened to tear off her bindings and rush her back to the original. One of the remaining clones dispelled himself to inform all the others, and the other two cracked their knuckles and began to vent demonic chakra as they strode purposefully toward the would-be rapist and his accomplice.

"N-nar-ruto-kun," Hinata sobbed into the chest of the clone carrying her.

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan," he told her, his demonic features having disappeared as soon as he had her safely in his arms. "I'm here for you. You're safe now. I'll protect you."

Other groups of clones joined them as they ran through the mazelike hallways of the complex on their way out.

"There he is," the one of the clones called out suddenly, pointing to a new group of Narutos that had come into view. "Hey boss, we found Hinata-chan!"

"Hinata-chan!" one of the Narutos – the real one – called out, as he ran over and took her from his clone.

"She's just been hanging onto me and crying since we found her," the clone said. "Do you think she'll be alright?"

"Not for awhile," the original replied as he wrapped his jacket around the sobbing – and until this point still mostly naked – girl. "But Hinata-chan is strong, and I believe in her."

He looked into Hinata's tear filled eyes and said, "I'll help you, Hinata-chan. We'll get through this together, I promise you that. I love you, and I'll be there for you."

"Naruto-kun, I, I…" Hinata struggled to express the turbulent emotions that filled her as love, pain, gratitude, shame, relief, and fear all battled for control of her heart.

"I know, Hinata-chan," he told her, "I know."

Naruto picked Hinata up, holding her protectively close to his chest, then gently kissed her forehead.

"Let's go home, Hinata-chan," he whispered to her, and in a flash, they were gone.

"You've really done it this time, haven't you, Toramaru-san? Immortality or not, I'm truly amazed that you're still alive."

"So you've told me already," the mutilated missing nin snapped. "Get to the point, can you fix me or not?"

"Well, I'll need to replace most of your major organs, as well as your left arm…but yes, I think that I can. In fact, I think I can make you stronger than you were before. I trust you'll hold up your end of our deal?"

"Of course," Toramaru replied. "I don't have anything I place any real value on to lose."

"Very well then, I'll heal you. If nothing else, it will show the world that I've surpassed the Sannin and become the greatest medical ninja of all time."


	11. Chapter 11

**Once again I find myself forced to apologize for the tardiness of my publication. All I can do is plead insanity and ask for your patience.**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 11. – Loving Words and Gentle Kisses.**

"Do you think she's alright?"

Kakashi sat in the makeshift camp the Konoha team had put together, listening to his teammates worrying about their kidnapped companion.

"Don't worry, Kiba," Shino said, but with subtle hints of emotion breaking into his monotone. "Naruto will save Hinata and bring her back to us. How do I know this? Because I have seen how they look at each other, and I know that he will do anything to keep her safe."

"Yeah, I know," Kiba said, "but that bastard Toramaru is so fast – none of us could keep up with him. If he decides to hurt her, Naruto might not get their in time to stop him."

"I doubt he'll kill her, at least not yet," Shikamaru said grimly, putting in his two ryo worth. "He's using her as bait to draw Naruto out on his own. As such, he needs her alive, but he wants her traumatized, so that Naruto will fight to save her."

"What do you mean, 'traumatized?'" Kiba demanded, his fear for his comrade's safety increasing.

"We're close to Kumo," Shikamaru replied, "they tried to take Hinata when she was three. Given that he brought us here, I'm guessing that Toramaru knows about Hinata's history with Kumo. He also knows that Naruto will die before he lets Kumo have their way with her. The bastard does his homework, and because of it, he's been able to force our hand every round so far. Toramaru's got Hinata, Naruto has run of by himself to save her, and the rest of us are in no condition to follow, much less fight when we get there."

"At this point, all that we can do is to have faith in our companions." Shino said stoically, but to Kiba, who knew him well, Shino's worry was obvious.

At that moment, Naruto's clones were searching frantically for a place where Naruto and Hinata could hide.

They were still deep in the Land of Lightning, and neither was in any condition to fight if they were discovered. After his run to save Hinata, his brief but furious battle with Toramaru, and extended use of the fox's power, even Naruto's admittedly absurd stamina was reaching its limits. Hinata was in even worse shape, having lost consciousness from the combined effects of chakra exhaustion, mental trauma from her kidnapping and attempted rape, and the unknown effects of whatever drugs the Kumo doctor had given her. She was shivering violently and Naruto, while he was no medic, had enough experience having the crap beat out of him to recognize that she was going into a state of shock.

The icing on the cake was the brewing storm that threatened to break at any minute, so Naruto's search for a hiding place had began.

While the clones searched, Naruto set about keeping Hinata warm. He unsealed a pair of sweat pants from one of his supply scrolls, blushing slightly as he pulled them onto the shapely legs of the sleeping girl next to him.

"_Focus, damn it!"_ he thought. _"Hinata needs to be kept warm…AHH, bad thoughts! Ero Sennin, what have you done to me?"_

Shaking his head to clear away the sensual images he had inadvertently conjured, Naruto next unsealed his spare blanket and wrapped it around Hinata, then pulled her into his lap, wrapping her in his arms.

To his surprise, Hinata struggled against his grip, thrashing in her sleep. "No, no, don't touch me," she moaned. "Help, please! Someone save me!"

"Hinata, it's me," Naruto whispered in her ear. "I'm here, you're safe now. It's just a nightmare."

In her dreams, Hinata was reliving her misery. She was once again strapped down to the table being molested by the Kumo ninja. In the dream however, the entire Hyuuga clan was present, glaring at her with cold looks of disgust.

"Worthless failure…" though their mouths never moved, the voices of the Hyuuga clan echoed thunderously through Hinata's nightmare. "Disgusting weakling…calls herself a ninja…pathetic loser…disgrace to the clan…filthy whore…she should have never been born…"

Hinata sobbed as her family watched her be violated. She struggled futilely against the Kumo ninja's grasp, but her bonds held her tight. "No, no, don't touch me," she screamed. "Help, please! Someone save me!"

Suddenly all movement stopped, as though frozen, and Hinata heard the voice of the jinchuuriki she loved. "Hinata, it's me," Naruto whispered in her ear, appearing, out of nowhere, at her side. "I'm here, you're safe now. It's just a nightmare."

The straps holding Hinata down disintegrated at Naruto's touch. He held out his hand and she reached up to grasp it tightly. "I'll help you, Hinata-chan," he told her, as he pulled her to her feet. "We'll get through this together, I promise you that. I love you, and I'll be there for you."

The dream Naruto radiated strength and confidence, and Hinata felt her fear, pain, and humiliation all melt away in the face of his warm and comforting presence. Still holding her hand, he punched the Kumo nin, and the scene around them – the cell, the Hyuugas, and the Kumo ninja – shattered like glass, revealing a grassy field under a starry sky.

Naruto, who was now wearing a black kimono with orange embroidery, turned and wrapped Hinata, who found herself in a beautiful pink and lavender yukata that matched her eyes, in his tight embrace.

"Th-thank you for s-saving me, Naruto-kun," Hinata said nervously, stuttering slightly.

"Hinata," Naruto said, "I'll always protect you. I promise that I'll take care of you."

He leaned in to kiss her forehead before whispering, "But right now, it's time to wake up."

The first thing Hinata noticed when she woke up was that she couldn't move. At first she panicked, memories of her ordeal still fresh, but almost at once she realized that she was wrapped in blankets, not tied down.

"Are you alright, Hinata?" came Naruto's worried voice, and Hinata turned to see him kneeling over her with a concerned expression.

They were in a small cave with a dry, sandy floor. It was raining outside, and Naruto had obviously been worried about keeping Hinata warm, as attested to by her position – wrapped in blankets, inside a sleeping bag, next to a campfire.

"I-I'm alright now, Naruto-kun," she told him, and then quietly added "as long as you're with me, I'm alright."

As she wriggled out of the smothering blankets, Hinata saw her ruined clothing folded next to her and noticed that she was dressed in Naruto's spare clothes. This discovery caused her to explore new and exciting shades of red as yet unknown to the human complexion.

"Naruto-k-kun, d-did you, d-dress me?" she stammered.

Naruto cringed. "Your clothes were shredded, and you were shivering," he pleaded, his arms instinctively moving up to protect his face. "I didn't touch anything, I swear!"

To his surprise, Naruto received an embrace in place of the slap he was expecting.

"Thank you," Hinata whispered, her eyes beginning to tear up as she clung to him. "Thank you for taking care of me, Naruto-kun."

"So, you're not mad that I dressed you?" Naruto asked, the surprise showing in his voice as returned her hug with one of his own.

"I trust you, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied. "You saved me, and then you took care of me, even though I'm just a burden to you. I owe you everything, Naruto-kun."

"Hinata…" he whispered, holding her tightly while moving one hand up to stroke her dark hair.

"You're the one I trust," she continued, snuggling deeper into his arms. "You're the one I love."

"You're not a burden to me, Hinata-chan," Naruto said. "You're strong. Please stop thinking that you're weak."

"But I, I couldn't defend myself," she said, beginning to cry again. "I couldn't do anything to help, and if you hadn't rescued me, I would have been…"

"Hinata, being beaten by Toramaru doesn't make you weak," Naruto told her. "He was more powerful than any of us. Even with my sage training, I couldn't keep up with him. The only reason I could beat his power was because I used the Kyuubi."

"But –" Hinata began, only to be silenced by Naruto placing a finger on her lips.

"Do you trust me, Hinata-chan?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.

"Of course I do, Naruto-kun, but –" Hinata said, before Naruto interrupted her again.

"Then believe me when I say that you are a strong and skilled kunoichi," he told her. "The only thing that holds you back is your low self-esteem."

They just kneeled there, holding each other, for a moment. Then Naruto sat down, pulling Hinata into his lap.

"You still need to rest," he told her. "Your chakra reserves won't have fully recovered, and we don't know what that asshole injected you with. You should try to sleep some more if you can. I'll keep watch."

In response, Hinata grabbed his arm and clung to him desperately. "Please don't go," she pleaded. "Don't leave me alone. Please stay with me."

Realizing how fragile she still was after her ordeal, Naruto smiled sadly. "Ok," he told her, "I'll stay with you Hinata-chan."

He sent some shadow clones outside to keep a lookout, then pulled his sleeping bag next to Hinata's and lay down on top of it.

"Come on, Hinata-chan," Naruto said, patting her sleeping bag. "Please try to rest."

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata asked, blushing and stuttering, "can w-we, um, could I sleep w-with, with you? I mean together – in the same bag, I mean –"

"It's ok, Hinata-chan" a slightly blushing Naruto told the embarrassed girl. "I know what you mean. You want me to lay with you. You don't want to be alone."

Hinata nodded, and Naruto unzipped their sleeping bags, combining them into one, larger sleeping bag. Soon the young couple was situated comfortably, snuggled into each other's arms.

"Now get some rest," Naruto told Hinata. "Try to relax, I won't let anyone hurt you. You're the most precious thing in the world to me."

He leaned forward and kissed her gently, not on her forehead as was his habit, but fully on her lips, in their first real kiss. Hinata instinctively leaned into the kiss, caught up in the tender moment, then realized exactly what was happening, and fainted.

"Well, I guess that got her to go to sleep," Naruto chuckled to himself. "Sleep well, Hinata-tenshi."

Back in Konoha, at an isolated training ground, another young couple was spending time together.

"All the pieces are in place," Neji announced with a smirk. "Once Naruto and Hinata-sama return, we will spring the trap, and the clans will have no choice but to grant equality to branch families."

"What if they don't?" Tenten demanded. "What if Hiashi just locks you up for plotting this crazy revolution? What then, Neji?"

"He wouldn't dare," Neji reassured her. "If he tries, the entire branch family will defect to the new Uzumaki clan – after breaking me out. With the way I've set up the clan formation treaty, any attempt to forcefully bring anyone back to their old clan will be considered an act of treason against Konoha. Either way, the branch families are set free."

He leaned and reached up to put his hand on the cheek of the kunoichi he loved.

"And then, we can be together," he whispered. "No more hiding, no more lying, no more secrecy. We can be a real couple, and have a proper romance."

Tenten's response would have shocked any of her acquaintances, most of who would never imagine that the tough and stoic tomboy had a fragile, feminine side under her gruff exterior.

"Be careful, Neji," she said as leaned against his chest. "I'll never forgive you if you get yourself killed over politics. I can't go back to being alone, I just can't."

"You won't be," Neji promised her. "I won't die, not now that I've found something worth living for."

Change, long overdue, would shake the foundations of Konoha, and the entire ninja world would feel the tremors.


	12. Chapter 12

**I don't want to seem ungrateful or to offend anyone, but I feel the need to say something. I've been disappointed and disheartened by the reviews I've received lately. While I appreciate it that some of you have taken the time to review my work, I feel that I'm not getting much meaningful feedback anymore. I used to get useful reviews – constructive criticism that I could use to improve myself as an author and establish whether I needed to go back and edit for clarity – but lately all I've gotten is people asking me to keep writing. I appreciate the encouragement, but it would really make me happy to receive some more in depth, analytical reviews. Thanks.**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

**Chapter 12. – Reunions**

"Yo, Naruto."

Naruto awoke to discover that his clones had returned, along with a small dog wearing a blue vest and a ninja headband.

"Hey Pakkun," Naruto said, using a substitution jutsu to switch places with his clone so that he wouldn't wake Hinata.

"Kakashi sent me to find you," Pakkun said. "Pick up Hinata and follow me. I'll take you back to Kakashi."

Naruto nodded. His clones packed up camp as the original gently scooped Hinata's sleeping form into his arms, then followed Pakkun off into the forest.

"Hey guys, we're back," Naruto called as they approached the Konoha ninjas' camp.

"HINATA!" Kiba yelled, predictably racing over to check on his teammate.

"AAAHH!" Hinata woke with a start, screaming and instinctively clutching at Naruto's shirt.

"It's ok, Hinata-chan," Naruto told her. "It's just Kiba, see? He was worried about you. We're back with our friends. You're safe."

"Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked tentatively, as Naruto set her down gently. She looked around for a moment, taking stalk of her surroundings, then dashed forward toward her teammate.

"Kiba," she said, beginning to cry as hugged her friends. "I thought, I thought I'd never see you again."

"Aaah, careful, Hinata!" Kiba said, wincing despite his pleasure at seeing Hinata safe.

"He broke several ribs during the battle against Toramaru," Shino stated in his emotionless tone, then added, "I was confident that Naruto would rescue you, but I am still glad to see for myself that you are unharmed."

"Shino-kun," Hinata said tearfully, moving to embrace the Aburame.

Shino, to everyone's surprise, returned the gesture, before asking, "Are you alright, Hinata?"

"I, I'm…" Hinata began, then shook her head and whispered, "no…no I'm not."

"But she will be," Naruto said firmly, coming up behind them. "Hinata is strong, and she will be ok, even if she isn't yet. Right Hinata?"

The pale eyed girl began to tear up again, and returned to her favorite refuge in Naruto's arms.

"I'm here for you, Hinata," Naruto whispered as he held her. "I'm here for you, and so are your teammates, and everyone else. We're all here for you."

"That's right," Kakashi said, joining the welcoming committee with one of his strange 'eye smiles.' "Now, why don't we have Sakura double check that you're not hurt, while Naruto tells us what happened. You can fill in your part of the story later."

Hinata nodded, and Sakura whisked her off into a tent while the guys all crowded around Naruto.

"Naruto," Shino asked, in an entirely too calm voice, "would you care to explain why she was wearing your clothes?"

"What – oh that, well, uh," Naruto stammered nervously.

"If you tried anything funny…" Kiba growled, his protective side coming out in full force.

"You think I'd try to take advantage of her like that?" Naruto demanded, his temper flaring. "What kind of jerk do you think I am?"

"Why don't we give Naruto a chance to explain," Kakashi interjected, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru chimed in.

In the tent Sakura had also noticed that Hinata was wearing Naruto's clothes.

"So Hinata," she said as she examined the Hyuuga girl, "what did that bastard do to you? I know that it might be painful to talk about, so you can take your time if you need to, but I need to know so that I can help you recover."

Slowly, crying at times, Hinata told Sakura about being kidnapped, about waking up tied to a table, about the Kumo ninja trying to rape her, and about being rescued by Naruto, and – blushing heavily – about how he had taken such good care of her the day before.

At the end of the story, Sakura was grinding her teeth and clenching her fists in fury. Hinata may not have been her favorite person, but no one deserved to go through that. She fervently hoped that there was a special place in hell for the bastards that did it.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata," Sakura said. "You could probably use Ino's help more than mine after that, but I want you to know that I'll do whatever I can for you. Don't hesitate to ask for whatever you need, ok?"

"Thank you Sakura," Hinata said. "It's, it's good to have another girl to talk to about this. I just, I felt so weak, and so dirty."

"Hinata," Sakura said firmly, "You aren't weak, and you are definitely not dirty. You need to keep telling yourself that. None of this was your fault."

"_It will be as far as my father is concerned,"_ Hinata thought miserably, as she watched Sakura dig through her bag and remove a small syringe.

"I need to take a blood sample," Sakura explained, as she pricked Hinata's finger. "That way I can find out what they injected you with and counteract it if it's still active in your system. I'll do everything I can to help you Hinata, we all will."

"…and I knew Hinata-chan was in there somewhere, so I made as many clones as I could to look for her."

Once Hinata was out of sight, Naruto had dropped his façade, allowing his exhaustion to show as he recounted saving Hinata.

"How many clones, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, curious and slightly worried. Naruto was tired from something that happened yesterday – that didn't add up.

"Well, I was using the Kyuubi's chakra, so I think around 8000," Naruto answered. "Anyway, my clones all split up to find Hinata, and when they did – well, it wasn't good."

"What happened?!?" Kiba demanded, grabbing the front of Naruto's jacket.

"She, she was tied to a table," Naruto continued, clearly pained by the memories. "There were two people in there with her, a Kumo ninja, and a guy in a lab coat. The ninja was…he had torn off her shirt and was trying to get her pants off."

A moment of dead silence followed Naruto's announcement, with everyone attempting to digest the horror that Hinata had come so close to suffering.

"After that," Naruto continued, "one of my clones dispelled to let everyone know where Hinata was. Some more clones freed her and brought her back to me, and a few more started beating the shit out of the bastards who were hurting her."

"What did you do them?" Kiba growled, fangs bared and tears in his eyes from helpless rage. "Tell me you hurt them! Tell me you made them suffer for what they did to her!"

"Kiba, calm down," Kakashi told him. "Naruto said that she still had her pants on, so it's not as bad as it could have been."

"Don't worry, Kiba," Naruto said grimly. "Those two will NEVER hurt Hinata-chan again."

"So, you killed them?" Shikamaru asked.

"No," Naruto answered, his voice colder than anyone had ever heard it. "I destroyed them."

"Then what happened?" Kakashi asked, trying to steer the conversation away from death and destruction.

"Well, my clones brought Hinata to me, and I told her that she was safe now and tried to comfort her," Naruto said. "Her shirt and jacket were shredded, so I gave her my jacket, then we left. She was exhausted, so I carried her, and she fell asleep. Later, she started shivering, so I found a cave and made camp. I made a fire, and gave her some of my clothes. She woke up for a little while, and we talked for a little bit, before I told her that she still needed to rest. She was afraid to sleep alone, so I, kind of, put our sleeping bags together."

At this, Kiba began to growl again, but Shino put a hand on his shoulder to calm him, as Naruto snapped, "Nothing happened, Kiba. I slept next to her because she was scared. I wouldn't take advantage of her like that."

"Anyway," he continued, "that's where Pakkun found us this morning, and I carried here so she could sleep."

"And that's what you need to do now, Naruto," Kakashi said firmly. "I've never seen you this tired. Take a quick nap while Sakura finishes checking Hinata, then we'll head home. I'm aborting our mission, and when we get back I'm recommending to Tsunade-sama that you be put on bed rest for a few days. Everyone else, let's pack up camp. I want us ready to move by the time the girls finish."

"How does your new body feel?"

"Painful," Toramaru snarled, straining his bandages as he sat up in his cot. "Painful and unwieldy."

"That's to be expected for a few days," the medic said patiently, smirking under his hooded cloak. "I had to replace over 60% of your tissues, though I took care to preserve as many of the more…unique aspects of your physiology as I could. The majority of your kekei genkai should still be usable, including that fascinating nervous system you have."

"So I'll still be fast?" Toramaru demanded.

"Yes," the other man said smugly. "Once you've sufficiently recovered from your surgeries, you will regain your inhuman speed and agility. Now, I believe the time has come to discuss my payment."

At this, Toramaru gave a sadistic grin, revealing his yellowed fangs. He reached over and grabbed one of his bags from beside his cot, and pulled out a storage scroll. From there, he unsealed an enormous scroll which, disturbingly enough, seemed to be made from the skins of small children, stitched together.

"How crudely theatrical," the medic commented, noting the material. He unrolled the scroll, revealing it to be summoning contract.

"Are you trying to cheat me?" he said, a hard edge to his voice. "I offered to save your life in return for the chance to sign the contract you carry. There are no blank spaces on this contract for more signatures."

"I'm not cheating you," Toramaru chuckled. "It's part of the pact. If you want a blank space to appear, you have to sew on another skin, one that you killed yourself."

"Very well," the other ninja replied, forming hand signs. "Kuchiyose no jutsu (summoning jutsu)."

There was a puff of smoke, and a large snake appeared.

"Go and find a child – one who won't be missed – and bring them back to me, alive," the cloaked man instructed.

"Easssily done," the snake hissed. "I ssshall do as you asssk, Kabuto-sssama."

Sasuke awoke to find himself in strange, yet oddly familiar surroundings. He seemed to be in a dark alleyway, but the walls were covered in bloodstains.

"_I can see again,"_ he noted to himself. _"I must be dreaming"_

"**You aren't dreaming, Sasuke."**

The ominous whisper, soft and cold as an arctic breeze, froze the blood in his veins.

A figure stepped forward from the shadows, sharingan eyes blazing red against coal black skin and gray, twisted horns.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded. "And where are we?"

"**I'm hurt,"** the demonic creature replied. **"Don't you recognize your own son?"**


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

**Chapter 13. – Homecoming**

"My son?" Sasuke sneered. "You're saying that I'm your father?"

"**Actually,"** the demonic apparition chuckled, **"it would be more accurate to describe you as my mother. After all, your mind was the womb that bore me, and I've grown strong on the sweet milk of your hatred and spite."**

"What are you?" Sasuke demanded, anger flaring at having this…thing call him mother, of all things.

"**Why, I'm you, Sasuke,"** the creature replied, grinning evilly with a mouth full of needlelike fangs. **"I'm what you've become. But at the same time, I'm separate from you – I have been for several years, ever sense you embraced Orochimaru's curse seal. Its unholy power caused me to splinter off from your soul, and form a separate entity inside you. For years I've waited, basking in your hatred and bitterness, as you sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, slowly killing the other parts of your soul as you fed me – and now, I'm all that's left."**

At this point the demon began to stalk forward, sharingan eyes blazing like pits of hellfire. **"I've been patient, Sasuke,"** it said, its tone mocking, **"something that you could never manage. But I'm done with you now. You're no longer useful to me, so it's time for me to take the reigns."**

"So the mission failed," Tsunade said, mentally calculating the damage Toramaru had done to Konoha's foreign relations as she scanned Kakashi's written report.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied, his tone serious for once. "As we suspected, it was a trap. We were forced to engage our target, sustaining multiple injuries. Despite the exceptional performances of all our shinobi, Toramaru was able to capture Hinata and escape. Naruto pursued him, and although Toramaru was defeated, we were unable to confirm the kill–"

"I'm telling you, he's dead," Naruto interrupted. "I hit him with nine rasengans at once, there's no way he survived that."

"Don't be so troublesome, Naruto," Shikamaru said. "Unless we've got a confirmed kill, we have to consider the possibility that he's still alive, no matter how unlikely it seems –especially with an 'S' class enemy."

"Anyway," Kakashi continued, "Hinata had already been handed off to Kumo. Apparently they still want the byakugan badly enough to risk an international incident. Naruto rescued her before she was harmed and she seems to be recovering as well as can be expected, but as team leader I would be remiss if I didn't recommend that she undergo psychological evaluation after such a traumatic event."

Tsunade nodded, then ordered, "Sakura, bring me Ino. Kakashi, go find Neji and tell him that I want him here now. Naruto and Hinata, you stay here. The rest of you can leave."

"Hai," everyone said, and filed out, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone with Tsunade.

"Now," Tsunade said, "you're both going to tell me exactly what happened."

"I found Hinata in a Kumo facility, using my clones," Naruto explained. "There were two Kumo ninjas there, a jounin and a medic. The jounin was…he was about to rape Hinata. I let my clones use some of Kyuubi's chakra, to they could save her. After that, the clones decided to beat the Kumo ninjas to a pulp – literally."

"You used the Kyuubi's chakra during something as delicate as hostage situation?!?" Tsunade shouted. "What could have possibly made you think that that was a good idea?"

"Things have changed," Naruto explained. "I have a way to control the Kyuubi's chakra."

"How?" Tsunade demanded

"Do you remember that time that Itachi put some of his chakra into me?" Naruto asked.

"Yes…" Tsunade said slowly, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Well, he kind of showed up in my head," Naruto explained. "He gave me something to control the Kyuubi with."

"Are you telling me," Tsunade said, struggling not to explode again, "that in addition to the Kyuubi, you now have an 'S' class missing nin inside you?"

"No, Itachi's not there anymore," Naruto explained. "He disappeared after he helped me control the Kyuubi."

"How, exactly, did he help you control the Kyuubi, Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"He gave me his sharingan," Naruto replied.

"WHAT?!?" Tsunade demanded. "You have the sharingan now?"

"Kind of," Naruto explained. "Itachi said that I would only be able to use it inside my mind to deal with the Kyuubi. And controlling the damn fox was still the most exhausting thing I've ever done."

At this point, the two blondes were interrupted by a small, sad voice saying, "I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun."

"Hinata," Naruto said sternly, "you have to stop apologizing. None of this was your fault."

"But you've gone through so much trouble for me," the shy kunoichi insisted. "I'm just a burden to you, I'm not worth it. I'm weak, I'm pathetic, I'm –" she said beginning to tear up.

"Hinata," Naruto said firmly, gently cupping her cheeks so that she was forced to look him in the eye, "even if I did think that you're weak – which I don't – you would still be worth saving. You've always been there for me when no one else was, even if I was too stupid to realize it. You're the sweetest, kindest person I know, and the time that I've spent with you these last few weeks has been the happiest time of my life. Since you can't seem to accept that you have value based on your own merit, try to believe that you have value because I love you, Hinata. We'll work from there until we can build up your confidence, ok?"

"_That's either the cheesiest or the most beautiful thing I've ever heard,"_ Tsunade thought as Naruto held Hinata close, reassuring her that no matter what anyone else said, she was precious to him. _"I'm leaning toward beautiful though."_

"Do you have anything to add to Naruto's story, Hinata?" Tsunade asked.

"N-no, Hokage-sama," Hinata said nervously. "B-but, um I do have, um, I have a question for you, um, if that's ok."

"Of course, Hinata," Tsunade replied warmly. "Anything I can do to help you." Inside, however, she thought, _"Kami, Hinata's a mess. Kakashi was right to recommend a psych evaluation. She's showing signs of PTSD and her confidence issues are worse than ever. I guess that's to be expected after what almost happened to her. Who knows how bad she would be now if Naruto had gotten there a few minutes later."_

"Um," Hinata continued meekly, "S-Sakura said that the injection I got wasn't dangerous, and I should just let it work its way out of my system, but, um, she didn't say what it was. C-could you tell me what –"

"What the injection was," Tsunade finished, and Hinata nodded. "Well Hinata, the initial blood test showed that what they injected you with was essentially a highly concentrated hormone supplement – a fertility drug. I'd like to do some more extensive tests to be positive, but since Naruto saved you in the nick of time, there should be no lasting effects – assuming that he continued to be a gentleman after his daring rescue."

At this Hinata's coloration shifted toward the lower end of the visible spectrum, and she collapsed with a small 'meep'ing sound. Naruto caught her before she hit the ground, glaring angrily at Tsunade.

"Damn it, Baachan," he yelled at the smirking Hokage.

At this point, there was a knock on the door, and Ino, Sakura, and Neji came in as Naruto roused Hinata from her faint.

"Hokage-sama," Neji said, uncharacteristically agitated, "Kakashi said that something happened to Hinata! What happened? Is she alright?"

"Just a minute, Neji," Tsunade told him, before turning to the girls. "Sakura, I want you to run some more tests, to make sure that there will be no side effects of Hinata's ordeal. Hinata, I want you to talk to Ino for a while."

Upon receiving a questioning look, Tsunade explained, "Between her medic training and her clan jutsus, she's one of the village's best psychiatric therapists, and I thought you would be more comfortable having your evaluation done by someone you know."

Once the girls had left, Tsunade turned back to Neji and handed him the mission report. Upon reading it his eyes widened and he paled slightly, before turning and bowing to Naruto.

"Thank you for saving my cousin," Neji said. "She is the best hope for our clan's future, and I am eternally in your debt for rescuing her."

Straitening up, Neji was all business again in an instant.

"Naruto, Tsunade-sama," he said, "this means we have to step up the timetable of our plans. I had hoped to wait until the next meeting of the clan heads to move forward, but if we don't act immediately, the Hyuuga clan elders will use this as an excuse to brand Hinata with the caged bird seal. Do you have the necessary documents prepared, Tsunade-sama?"

"What documents?" Naruto asked, becoming slightly confused.

"The document for you and Tsunade-sama to sign, officially recognizing you as the Fourth Hokage's heir, and the treaty allowing you to found the new Uzumaki clan," Neji explained. "Part of the treaty we've written up, you will be allowed to 'adopt' individuals from other clans into the Uzumaki clan, placing them under your protection. If any of the other clans try to do anything to a person under your protection, they will face severe legal penalties. This will allow you to protect not only Hinata-sama, but anyone who agrees to join your clan in exchange for this protection."

"I won't lie to you," Neji continued. "This will cause a negative political backlash, which could make it more difficult for you to achieve your dream of becoming Hokage. On the other hand, as a clan leader it offers you the chance to participate in village politics if you so choose, and that experience would be highly valuable once you do become Hokage. In the end, the choice is yours Naruto, and no one would blame you if you turn it down, but I honestly believe that this is your best chance to help not only Hinata, but the village as a whole."

Naruto was silent for a moment, his expression thoughtful. Then he said, "What does it cost to buy a house?"

At this, Neji's eye twitched and the veins in Tsunade's forehead bulged alarmingly.

"That's all you have to say?" Tsunade yelled. "We're all sticking our necks out in Neji's crazy scheme, and you're worried about real estate prices? Focus, damn it!"

"What?" Naruto demanded. "I can't fit a clan in my apartment – there's barely enough room for me."

"_I knew he would dive right in at a chance to help people, but I didn't expect him to think the repercussions through,"_ Neji thought wryly. _"He'll make a good clan leader, and a good hokage someday."_

"I assume that means you're agreeing to take part in this insanity," Tsunade said with a sigh of resignation. "Why am I not surprised."

"Don't worry too much about money issues, Naruto," Neji said. "I understand that Jiraiya-sama was your godfather, so you should inherit his considerable fortune whenever Tsunade-sama sees fit to turn over control of his trust funds. And while the Fourth wasn't wealthy, I believe that he did have some property here in the village. Your new clan will be provided for."

"Alright then," Naruto said, grinning. "Where do I sign?"

"You do realize the risk your taking," Toramaru said casually. "Once you summon them, they will kill you if they judge you unworthy. There's an old saying – 'don't raise more demons than you can put down'."

"So you've told me," Kabuto said as he finished stitching a small human skin to the gruesome scroll. "I'm beginning to think you're just trying to keep me from summoning them."

Toramaru laughed heartily as Kabuto signed the contract, then bit his thumb and ran through hand seals.

"Kuchiyose: gyakusatsugami no inori (summoning: prayer to the gods of carnage)."

Kabuto's eyes widened as the smoke cleared to reveal the horrors he had called forth.


	14. Chapter 14

**Before we get started, I want to give a big shout out to notgonnasay09 for giving me an extensive review that talks to me and lets me know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. The rest of you – take notes. But seriously, I would like to hold up his review as a shining example of what a really useful review looks like. Thank you man.**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"_**demon thought"**_

**Chapter 14. – New Hope and New Threats.**

"I will now call this meeting to order," Tsunade said, looking over the assembled elders and clan heads. "I would like to thank you all for coming on such short notice."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," came the politely emotionless voice of Shibi Aburame. "I know you wouldn't have called this meeting without something important to discuss."

Tsunade nodded her head toward Shibi before continuing, "Due to an altercation involving one of our teams and the rogue ninja known as Toramaru, our relationship with Kumogakure, already strained after the attack on their jinchuuriki by Sasuke Uchiha, has further deteriorated, to the point where we cannot dismiss the possible outbreak of hostilities."

"However," Tsunade continued, "before we begin, I have a brief announcement to make. I have decided to grant one Naruto Uzumaki his inheritance, in spite of his underage status. As you may or may not be aware, he is the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, and the godson of Jiraiya of the Sannin. However, rather than reforming the Namikaze clan, he has asked to form a new clan of his own. I agreed to allow it, and we drew up a clan formation treaty for the new Uzumaki clan. As an underage clan head, the council has the option of barring him from taking a seat on council until his 18th birthday, should you so desire."

Many of the council members began to whisper mutinously amongst themselves at Tsunade's announcement, until the aforementioned Hokage cleared her throat and said, "With that out of the way, onto the business at hand…"

Hinata found Naruto and Neji waiting when she left Ino's office.

"Hey Hinata-chan," Naruto said with a loving smile. "Did your session with Ino help?"

"Hai, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata replied shyly, blushing as she received a warm hug. "Ino-san was able to do a mind jutsu that helped. It's still painful to think about, but she said I won't have flashbacks or nightmares and, and it feels like, like it happened a long time ago."

"That's great!" Naruto exclaimed, hugging Hinata again and spinning her around in happiness.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata squealed, blushing madly. "We're in public! What if someone sees us?"

"Actually," Neji cut in, "that's part of why we're here. There is no longer any point in hiding your relationship."

"W-What do you mean?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Hinata-sama," Neji said sadly, "though it pains me to say it, you no longer have any future in the Hyuuga clan. When the elders find out what happened to you, they will seal you, and not even your father will be able to stop them. The only way for you to be safe is for you to leave the clan."

At this, Hinata burst into tears, only for Naruto to pull her even more tightly into his protective and comforting embrace.

"Shh, Hinata-chan, don't cry," he told her, stroking her hair soothingly. "It will be alright, I promise. You can come live with me. Tsunade-baachan gave me permission to start a new clan, and you can be part of it. I won't let anyone hurt you ever again, I promise."

"But, but the elders won't let–" Hinata began, only to have Naruto silence her with a soft kiss.

"Don't worry, Hinata," he said, giving her a loving smile. "We've got it worked out, the elders won't know anything about it until it's too late. You can come live with me and you'll be safe. I promised I would take care of you. The Hyuuga clan elders will have no authority over you if you become Hinata Uzumaki."

Hinata's face lit up with her patented Mega-Blush™.

"Y-You m-mean we have t-to get m-married?" she stammered, barely clinging to consciousness.

"No, you don't have to get married," Neji explained. "I don't think either of you are ready for that yet. According to its clan formation treaty, the Uzumaki clan has the right to adopt refugees who seek to escape their old clans. Legally, you would be considered Naruto's cousin, though you can still get married later if you want to."

"But what about the Hyuuga?" Hinata said dejectedly. "I can't just abandon my clan. I wanted to fix it – I wanted to unite the families."

"I know you love the clan – though Kami knows most of us don't deserve it – but you won't be abandoning us, Hinata-sama," Neji said. "By escaping the seal, you will be giving us a symbol of hope. If you become an Uzumaki, the main house will have to keep the branch family happy, or risk everyone following your example and defecting to the Uzumaki clan. The main family can't risk a mass exodus. You won't be abandoning your family, Hinata-sama, you will be setting us free."

"Do you really mean that?" Hinata asked. "I'll really be helping the clan; you aren't just saying that to make me feel better?"

"I do mean it, Hinata-sama," Neji told her. "By leaving, you will be showing the branch family that there is another way. You'll be giving us the key to our cage, Hinata-sama. On the other hand, if you stay, you'll be sealed into slavery like we are, and our hope for freedom dies. Once they seal you, the elders will force you into marriage within the clan, and no one will be able to protect you from them. We will try, but realistically there is nothing we can do to stop them, short of Naruto slaughtering half the clan."

"I know it's hard, Hinata," Naruto said, "but please, let me protect you. Twice now I've almost lost you – I can't loose you again. Please, I'm begging you to let me help you."

"…alright," Hinata said tearfully. "I'll, I'll leave the clan. But Neji – promise me that, that you'll take care of Hanabi for me. Don't let father treat her like, like he did to me."

"I will do all that I can for your sister, Hinata-sama," Neji replied solemnly. "I promise you that."

Naruto released Hinata from his embrace, drying her tears, then stepping back and reaching out his hand to her, asking, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course, Naruto," Hinata said, slightly confused.

"Then gather as much chakra as you can into your palm, then take my hand," he instructed. "We're going to exchange some chakra, so I can always find and protect you, ok Hinata?"

"Ok Naruto," she replied nervously, gathering as much chakra as she could in her hand.

"Hinata Hyuuga," Naruto said, his tone unusually serious, "do you want to join the Uzumaki? Do you want to become part of my family?"

"Yes Naruto," Hinata answered. "I've always wanted to become part of your family!"

She took Naruto's hand, and her world exploded.

Hinata felt Naruto's chakra pulse through her, more than replenishing her depleted reserves. It was a surging cascade of power, as wild and unstoppable as a river in flood, yet it brought her a sense of peace, security, and comfort like nothing she'd ever felt. Just for a moment, she saw herself through his eyes – saw herself not as a weak and pathetic disappointment, but as a strong, beautiful, and above all kind and caring woman. As the warmth and love of Naruto's chakra flowed through her, Hinata felt herself relaxing on a level she had never known before. All her stress, all her pain, all her worries melted away. She felt as though she were floating in a river of sunlight, and that nothing bad could possibly happen to her, so long as she was with her love, her savior, her Naruto.

Naruto's experience during the chakra exchange was much less intense – the chakra that Hinata had given him was barely a trickle compared to the torrent of energy that he had poured into her – but it was no less magical. To him, it was as if everything had slowed to a crawl, yet time flew by. The times he had spent with Hinata stood out in his mind, taking on a new quality in his memory, as though she were somehow more real than the rest of the world, and everything else was a drab reflection that mocked her perfection. He felt her love for him – her devoted adoration – and her quiet strength. In her presence, any setting seemed to transform into a thing of beauty, a place of serenity. So long as Hinata was by his side, Naruto knew that he would be happy.

As the moment ended, Naruto was smiling contentedly and Hinata wore a dazed look of wonder.

"Welcome to your new life," Naruto whispered, "Hinata Uzumaki."

"It's good to be back in uniform," Toramaru said, sighing contentedly.

He wore a sleeveless black coat sporting a white sunburst with a black circle superimposed over it, creating the image of a solar eclipse. His mask, however, was the attention grabber. It covered the top half of his face and the sides of his head. On the left side of his head was the visage of a grinning demon, opposite the leering skull on the right side of his head. On his forehead were kanji reading "envy." Hiruhime hung at his side, completing the image.

"I must admit, you've found a lovely new body for me," came a silky voice. Toramaru turned, seeing Kabuto – or at least Kabuto's body – hanging off the blade of a naginata held by a blonde man in a similar outfit to his own, except that the kanji on his mask read "sloth," and his coat had sleeves.

"So what modifications are you going to make to it?" Toramaru asked, mildly curious.

"Ah ah ah, that would be telling," the other man replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm glad you had him summon, otherwise it would have been much harder to find you. It's almost time to deal with Akatsuki. The Master has decided that they are no longer useful to us, so there is no longer any point in allowing them to live."

Toramaru smiled, flashing his fangs. "Excellent. We've hidden in the shadows for far too long. How soon can we begin?" he asked.

"We wait until we get word from Gluttony," replied the other man. "Then, we strike."

"And the Maken (devil swords) will rise again!"

In his cell, the creature that had once been Sasuke Uchiha brooded. It seemed he had only traded one cage for another. What good was taking control of the body from his other self if he was trapped in a high security prison? He had thought that he would be able to escape, but he had underestimated the strength of the suppression seals holding back his power.

"_**It doesn't matter, though,"**_ he thought. _**"Sooner or later, these fools who guard me will slip up, and when they do, I'll make them wish they had never been born."**_


	15. Chapter 15

**I am at long last triumphant over the computer virus, and am free to bring you a new chapter. Have I mentioned how much I hate my computer?**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

**Chapter 15. – Revelations.**

"So this is my dad's old house, huh?" Naruto said, looking up at the building in front of him. "Somehow I expected…more."

It was a small, one story residence near the Hokage Monument. It had no real yard to speak of, was surrounded by a rusty wrought iron fence, and was in need of new paint. It was hardly the kind of place that one imagined the legendary Fourth Hokage living in.

"Minato-sensei was a man of simple tastes," Kakashi replied. "Besides, what was the first lesson I ever gave you, Naruto?"

"'Always look underneath the underneath,'" Naruto recited, as he unlocked the gate and walked up the path. "But what does that have to do with a house? Are you saying it has a basement?"

Kakashi heaved a defeated sigh. "Hinata, look at the house with your byakugan, and tell him what you see."

Hinata activated her kekei genkai, then gasped, "Th-the whole house is suffused with chakra and covered in seals!"

"That's right," Kakashi explained. "Sensei remodeled it, and he built barriers and spatial distortion seals into the architecture. In addition to being nearly indestructible, the house is actually bigger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"How does that qualify as 'simple tastes'?" Naruto demanded, at which Kakashi only shrugged as Naruto unlocked and unsealed the front door.

Inside, under a decade and a half of dust, the house was relatively Spartan, with functional rather than luxurious furniture and few decorations. Exploration revealed a small kitchen, a living room, an office with shelves full of scrolls, a small dojo, and one bathroom. It was the two conjoined bedrooms, however, that attracted the trio's attention. The first seemed normal enough, if one could ignore that the pictures on the dressers were all of legendary ninjas in day to day activities. The second bedroom, however, had clearly been in the process of being converted into a nursery when the house was abandoned, as attributed to by the colorful wallpaper, the dusty crib, and the half painted playpen.

"This…" Naruto stammered, tears forming in his eyes, "this was supposed to be mine, wasn't it?"

Hinata, seeing her chance to help Naruto for a change, was quick to wrap him in a warm hug, letting him know that she was there for him. She knew that she couldn't fully understand what he was going through, but he had been there when she needed him and she would support him however she could.

"Yes Naruto," Kakashi confirmed, "this was supposed to be your room. Your parents spent months decorating the room, deciding it wasn't right and starting over from the beginning. Minato-sensei and Kushina-san wanted everything to be perfect for you."

Naruto nodded tearfully, hugging Hinata closer as she whispered soft reassurances.

Kakashi smiled, then said, "They would be proud of you Naruto. And for what it's worth, so am I."

"He's late."

Toramaru turned to his blonde haired companion and smirked.

"There's no need to be impatient, Kenji," he chided. "Sempai will get here when he gets here. Besides, you seem to have found a way to keep yourself occupied in the meantime."

The blonde man, now identified as Kenji, was sitting with Kabuto's corpse on his lap. Said corpse had its chest cavity sliced open and Kenji was in elbows deep, rummaging around and making alterations where he saw fit.

"I never said I minded him being late," he said, without looking up. "The longer it takes him to show up, the longer until we have to get back to work."

"What are you doing, anyway?" Toramaru asked curiously.

"Right now, I'm making some adjustments to his spine," Kenji replied. "When I'm done, the body's reflexes and reaction time should be greatly increased."

"I thought my back was sore this morning," Toramaru growled. "You've been taking tissue samples from me again, haven't you?"

Kenji simply smirked and continued his work.

"Damned freeloader," Toramaru grumbled. "But I suppose that's to be expected, considering you wield the blade of sloth."

"Just as I have come to expect your tone of jealousy at my abilities, oh Toramaru – wielder of Hiruhime, the blade of envy," came Kenji's taunting reply.

"Then I suppose you two idiots won't be surprised when I kill you for your inane chatter."

"See, Kenji, I told you sempai would be here soon," Toramaru said, as a third man stepped out of the darkness.

The man was tall and lean with broad shoulders. He was dressed similarly to the other two, but with the addition of kote and sode – from which razor sharp blades jutted forth savagely – on his arms and shoulders, respectively. On his back was a huge, single edged zanbatou with hairline cracks running though it at regular intervals. The kanji for wrath was proudly displayed on the forehead of his mask, above his feral, bloodshot eyes.

Kenji touched one of the seals that ran down the haft of his naginata, causing Kabuto's body to vanish in a puff of smoke.

"Daisuke 'the inferno'," he said as he got to his feet, "wielder of Enteiryu (flame emperor dragon), the blade of wrath. It's been a while. Do you have news from our master?"

"There still hasn't been any word from gluttony," Daisuke, the third man, said. "Our master thinks something may have happened to him. In the meantime, you two are to continue with the next stage of the plan."

At this, Kenji heaved a long suffering sigh and Toramaru grinned like the proverbial fox in the henhouse.

"Naruto, get up. There are things that we must discuss."

Naruto awoke in his mindscape to find a ragged looking Itachi Uchiha.

"Oh, it's you again," he muttered as he stood up. "What do you want, Itachi?"

"First, I regret to inform you that lending you my sharingan used up most of my chakra, so I won't be able to lend it to you again, at least for a while," Itachi said.

"I thought you gave me your sharingan," Naruto responded.

"No, a permanent transference of a kekei genkai is, sadly, impossible," Itachi informed him. "I can mesh my chakra with yours to lend you its use, but I cannot give you a sharingan. Under ordinary circumstances, my chakra would have been expended by the loan, and I would no longer be here to help you anymore, but you are anything but ordinary, which brings us to the second reason I brought you here tonight. I've found something rather…unexpected, and I think you should see it."

With that, Itachi turned and began walking down the sewer like tunnels of Naruto's mindscape. Naruto paused for a moment before shrugging and following.

Itachi led him around multiple turns, before finally coming to a small cell with a complex seal array in place of a lock. Inside the cell, sleeping peacefully on a cot, was a beautiful woman with fiery red hair.

"Naruto," Itachi said, "allow me to introduce Kushina Uzumaki-san."

"My, my mom?" Naruto gasped, shocked at the revelation.

"Indeed," Itachi said. "It appears that both of your parents sealed portions of themselves inside you before they died. However, Kushina was far more than just your mother, she was also the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no kitsune."

"WHAT!" Naruto shouted.

"The Third Hokage went to great pains to keep this information secret in order to protect you," Itachi continued, ignoring Naruto's outburst. "But based on what I've seen, I believe it has become necessary for you to learn some of the history of the Uzumaki clan – the history that I, as part of the ANBU, helped to bury."

"You are the third person – and the third Uzumaki – to bear the burden of the Kyuubi," Itachi explained. "Early attempts to contain the Kyuubi met with failure, until it was bound into a woman named Mito Uzumaki. It was discovered that the unique chakra produced by the Uzumaki clan, previously believed to have no benefit other than its abnormal potency, had the ability to inhibit bijuu chakra without suppressing it, making the Uzumaki clan ideal for becoming jinchuuriki. Later, when Mito was old and nearing her death, it was decided that the Kyuubi would be transferred into a new host, so your mother was sent to Konoha to become the Kyuubi's new jinchuuriki. Shortly after Kushina arrived in Konoha, the rest of the Uzumaki clan was destroyed in war. Kushina eventually learned to use her special chakra to restrain the Kyuubi, and even control it to a limited extent."

"So, so what does that mean?" Naruto asked, after Itachi had finished.

"As an Uzumaki, you produce the same special chakra that allowed you mother to control the Kyuubi, but only recently have you begun to produce it in significant amounts," Itachi told him. "It began shortly after you began seeing that Hinata girl, and I suspect that your relationship with her was the catalyst that triggered the change. That's one of the reasons I helped you save her."

"Thank you for that, by the way," Naruto piped in.

"For the past several days, the seal on Kushina-san has been attempting to open," Itachi said, gesturing to the cell behind them. "However, her chakra appears to have gone dormant for some reason, so it has been unable to do so. I believe that the seal is reacting to the special chakra that you have begun to produce, and I suspect that Kushina-san is supposed to be unsealed and then teach you to use your new chakra to control the Kyuubi. But until we can figure out a way to reawaken her chakra, she is going to stay asleep and you will be unable to control the Kyuubi's power. Minato-sama may have left some information on these seals behind, either in his home, which you have just inherited, or in the Hokage's files. I suggest that you search your new house and speak to Tsunade-sama about this. Now, I believe you are needed in the waking world."

Naruto awoke to the sound of muffled crying. He turned to embrace the girl lying beside him.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting up and pulling her into his arms.

"I'm, I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't mean to wake you up," Hinata sniffled, as Naruto dried her eyes.

"Never mind that," he said, waving away her apologies. "What's wrong? Are you having nightmares again?"

"No," Hinata said. "I just, I'm afraid. Tomorrow my father will come looking for me, wanting to know why I didn't come home, and I'll have to confront him. I'm afraid, Naruto-kun. How can I face him?"

Naruto smiled lovingly at Hinata, then told her, "You can face him, Hinata-chan. It will be hard, but I believe in you, and I'll be right beside you. You won't be alone, Hinata-chan."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, and buried her head in his chest.

"Go back to sleep, Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered, then kissed her cheek. "I won't let anyone hurt you, or take you away from me. I love you too much for that."

As the young couple settled back down to sleep, Naruto thought, _"I've finally found someone who loves me, and I won't let anyone take her away from me. Not Toramaru, not Kumo, and certainly not a self righteous asshole like Hiashi. He's already hurt her so much that he's destroyed her self-esteem. If he tries anything tomorrow I'll kick his ass."_

"So you understand the situation, Temari?"

"I do, Gaara-sama," the Suna kunoichi replied.

"Good," Gaara stated monotonously. "As our envoy to Konoha, I want you to sit in on their upcoming negotiations with Kumo – and make it clear that we will support our allies should Kumo fail to make satisfactory reparations for its recent actions."

Temari bowed and turned to leave, but stopped when she felt her brother's hand on her shoulder.

"Be careful, Temari," Gaara said. "There are many people who would benefit from this incident escalating. Stay safe."


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm abysmally late with my update, as usual. I've been busy with other stuff, and I wasn't really sure exactly how I wanted to do parts of this chapter. Fight scenes are hard. It takes a lot of effort for them to be any good, but I think the result is worth it. Hopefully you'll consider it to be worth the wait.**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

P.S. – yes, I'm aware that I've made Kisame stronger than he is in cannon. I like him, and I would like to point out that whenever he fought someone who wasn't perfectly tailored to counter his style – cough, Guy, cough – he kicked ass and took names.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**demon speech"**

**Chapter 16. – The Curtain Rises.**

As he walked through the grounds of his clan compound, Neji concealed his emotions as only a Hyuuga could. Internally, however, he was aquiver with anticipation to see the fruition of his plans.

"Hiashi-sama," he called as he knocked on his uncle's door, "there is a delegation from the Uzumaki clan requesting an audience with you."

"_What could the Uzumaki boy want?"_ Hiashi thought. _"Maybe he's proposing an alliance; after all, the Hyuuga are the strongest clan in the leaf."_

"Escort Uzumaki-san to the reception hall," Hiashi instructed Neji, "and inform him that I will meet him in twenty minutes. And tell the servants to brew a pot of tea."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama," Neji said with a polite bow.

As he left, Neji allowed himself a small smirk. _"Check, Uncle; your move,"_ he thought.

To say Daisuke was angry would be akin to saying that Sasuke was angsty; technically correct, but so understated as to give a false impression. Daisuke wielded the sword of wrath, he was always angry. What he felt toward the two men he stood across the clearing from was pure rage – a terrible fury so potent as to render any lesser man incapable of sentient thought.

"So," he snarled, flashing teeth that were completely out of place in anything even remotely human and could only be described as tusks, "it's as I suspected. You've betrayed us."

"Not quite," came the smug voice of Madara Uchiha. "You see, I was able to recover some interesting things when Orochimaru died, among them his notes on a certain kinjutsu (forbidden jutsu) known as edo tensei (impure world resurrection). Perhaps you've heard of it? The point is, he never chose to betray you, did you Kisame?"

"Forgive me, Daisuke," the shark-man said, "I failed. In the end, everyone becomes meat for someone stronger. Madara killed me, and now I'm his puppet."

"What will you do now?" Madara asked. "You know that you can't defeat both of us, so what will you do?"

The rational part of Daisuke's mind knew that Madara was right – his chances of beating both Madara and Kisame at the same time by himself were slim at best, especially if Kisame was now undead. But the rational part of Daisuke's mind had long ago atrophied into insignificance. He was a creature of passion, ruled by insane rage and berserk fury – a demon in human form.

Besides, just because he was outnumbered now didn't mean it had to stay that way.

Daisuke heaved the massive blade from his back. As he did, the sword expanded and changed. The sword was wreathed in black fire, reminiscent of the Amaterasu, and the hairline cracks that ran through the blade widened and sprouted additional blades extending outward from its edge, so that it resembled an enormous metal wing with razor sharp feathers.

"I will render you to blood and ashes!" Daisuke roared, his eyes blazing with insane fury. "I will teach you the meaning of fear! I will show you the true face of war!"

He charged forward, swinging his sword and bellowing inarticulately. Kisame gave a savage grin and rushed to meet him. Samehada clashed with Enteiryu, the force of their blows sending out shockwaves that would have shattered the bones of any lesser warriors. The black flames that coated Enteiryu flared out, seeking to burn the flesh from Kisame's bones, but they died out before they could reach the blue skinned ninja as Samehada greedily devoured the chakra behind them, thus protecting its master.

Daisuke leaped back, thrusting his sword forward. Enteiryu expanded again, the cracks in the sword fully separating into jagged clusters of blades connected by spiked chains and razor wire that seemed to pulse like exposed muscle tissue. The nightmarish sword lunged toward Kisame, striking like some demonic snake.

Kisame leaped aside, batting away Enteiryu with his own blade, only to have it lash around and attack him again, seeking to surround him in its deadly coils.

Then, both Akatsuki members felt it. There was a dark, oppressive chakra gathering around Daisuke, reminiscent of but weaker than a bijuu, yet somehow infinitely more terrible. The swordsman of wrath was flashing though hand signs with one hand, his expression caught somewhere between hate filled snarl and diabolic grin with a look in his eyes that promised murder.

"_What is this feeling?"_ Madara thought as he observed the battle unfold. _"He's deliberately keeping his sword in front of his hand, so I can't see the jutsu, but I can feel it. It's like I'm being watched – no not watched, judged – by something…something terrible. I can feel it; something terrible is going to happen. If he finishes that jutsu, something terrible will happen." _

Leaping into the air, Kisame sought to gain a battlefield advantage. "Suiton: bakushouha!" the undead shinobi landed on the surging wave he had created, riding it toward his enemy, Samehada poised to strike.

At the last second, Daisuke lashed out with Enteiryu, parrying Kisame's swing, and following up, allowing him to roll over Kisame's shoulders and retake his defensive stance on top of the water. His lips pulled back into a grin, Kisame chuckled, "So, you're using that jutsu, huh? I can't do it anymore, now that I'm dead. I guess I better get serious. Ninpou: doto bushin (ninja art: surging clones)."

Kisame sank into the water he had created, making hand signs. Almost immediately, a dozen water clones leapt from the waves, slashing at Daisuke from all sides. With a flick of his wrist, Daisuke lashed out with Enteiryu, destroying the clones, only to have the splashing water reform into new clones in midair. Caught off guard, Daisuke was not quite quick enough to block them all, and was launched back by a blow to the side that shredded his left pectorals. Even as he bellowed in pain, however, he maintained his steady stream of hand signs, refusing to allow a mere injury to stay his fury.

As he rolled to his feet, Daisuke instinctively slashed upward, deflecting a massive fireball shaped like a dragon's head. Madara had entered the fray.

With a roar, Daisuke launched himself toward Madara, twisting to dodge or deflect fire dragons from above and water sharks from below. The Uchiha phased through the attack, only to shudder as he felt the dark chakra around Daisuke spike. The swordsman slammed his now glowing hand down on the water, screaming his jutsu to the heavens, "Kuchiyose: gyakusatsugami no inori!"

There was an explosion of smoke, which cleared to reveal a gate reminiscent of Orochimaru's rashomon technique, but with one key difference. The gate was open.

As he peered into the impenetrable gloom beyond the gate, Madara came to realize the identity of the feeling that had gripped him since Daisuke had begun his jutsu. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in decades, one that he had hoped never to feel again in his immortal life. It was fear.

From within the gate came a monstrous sigh and a hand reached out to seize the frame of the gateway. It looked like the hand of a mummified corpse, but had birdlike talons in place of fingernails with massive metal blades protruding from the knuckles and armored plates bolted directly into its flesh. It was also as large as a mattress.

Five more hands, roughly the same as the first, grabbed hold of the gate, making three to a side. The gateway cracked as they dug in, hauling forth the monstrous bulk of the creature within. Madara let out a gasp as it came into view.

The monster was roughly humanoid, but with a hunched, apelike posture. Its six long, thin arms hung down past its knees. It was dressed in what appeared to have once been an ancient suit of full O-yoroi style armor, but many of the pieces seemed to have been crudely repaired or reinforced, and most of the larger pieces were grafted to its body. Strapped to its back were a variety of blades, ranging from a graceful katana to a brutish cleaver with serrated teeth. On its head sat the ancient and battered remnants of a magnificent kabuto, but in place of the maedate was an enormous pair of twelve point antlers, upon each fork of which was impaled a human corpse. All of it, weapons and armor alike, were liberally coated in old bloodstains. The demon's most striking feature, however, was its face, or rather, faces. The top half of its head seemed to have three faces, side by side. Six red eyes like dollops of congealed blood, three squat, withered noses like those of a skull, and three bushy, threatening unibrows. On the other hand, the bottom half of the creature's head was dominated by a single lipless, inhumanly wide mouth, filled with savage fangs, that seemed locked in a rictus grimace. The entirety of the face seemed to be without flesh, consisting of grayish, leathery skin pulled taught over the malformed skull.

Daisuke kneeled before the horror that he had summoned. "Oh mighty Asura-sama, great kami of war and bloodshed, I, your humble servant, beseech thee – bring down the utter annihilation that is your wrath upon my enemies!"

The demonic demigod opened its mouth, licking its lips with a long, wormlike tongue. Then, in a voice that sounded like the scream of tearing metal, it spoke, "Is it time at last then, to purge this world in blood and fire? Has the hour of the sword come, at long last?"

"It shall be soon, my lord," Daisuke promised. "We, the Maken, walk this land once more. Yet those who stand against me would prevent the glorious return of your almighty race. I beg thee, my lord, destroy them!"

The asura spoke again, its tearing metal voice shrieking horribly, "So be it."

"_Time to leave,"_ Madara thought, as he saw the colossus bearing down on them far more quickly than its bulk would suggest. A quick glance at Kisame sucked him into the dimension of the mangekyou sharingan, before he too phased out of existence.

"Hyuuga-sama, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice," Naruto said calmly.

"_He's just like Jiraiya was,"_ Hiashi thought. _"His biorhythms are almost imperceptible, and his body language gives away nothing. It must have something to do with sage training. And why is Hinata with him? We will have words when this is done."_

"Of course, Uzumaki-san," he replied smoothly, offering his guest a cup of tea. "May I inquire as to the nature of this visit?"

"_Stay calm, control your heart beat, lie without lying, just like we practiced,"_ Naruto thought as he sipped his tea, glancing at Hinata before replying, "I have come here in regard to a…situation which has arisen that affects our two clans. I am hoping to prevent any unpleasant misunderstandings that might result."

"Go on," Hiashi said, intrigued but not allowing his curiosity to show.

"When the Hokage and I negotiated the foundation treaty of the Uzumaki clan," Naruto told him, "I asked for and was granted the right to take in refugees and adopt them into the Uzumaki clan. This was done in an effort to strengthen both the village and my clan."

"An interesting strategy," Hiashi said, sipping his tea, "but I fail to see how this affects the Hyuuga."

"Ordinarily, it wouldn't," Naruto replied, "except that a member of the Hyuuga clan has petitioned to be taken in under refugee status, on the grounds of domestic abuse and fear for her safety due to the failure of a recent mission."

Hiashi sighed inwardly. This was a headache he didn't need. It did explain how his overly softhearted daughter had gotten involved; she could always be counted on to cause a scandal trying to help those beneath her. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Uzumaki-san," He said evenly. "I assure you, I will look into it. If you would tell me–"

Naruto held up his hand, silencing Hiashi. "You misunderstand, Hyuuga-sama," he said. "I accepted her into the Uzumaki, and I assure you that am well within my rights to do so, as granted by the Uzumaki clan's foundation treaty. I am here, Hiashi, to inform you that – despite her mistreatment – neither she nor the Uzumaki clan bears any animosity toward the Hyuuga clan, and that I hope that this incident doesn't negatively impact any future interactions between our clans. Should you seek redress, that is, of course, your prerogative. Should you choose to do so, however, I would suggest you first go over the publicly accessible portions of the Uzumaki clan's foundation treaty. As I said before, the Uzumaki clan is well within its rights. Now, do you have any further questions?"

Inwardly seething, Hiashi said, "Only one, Uzumaki-san; would you be so kind as to tell me the identity of the girl who you took in?"

Naruto finished his tea, then said, "She wanted to speak to you herself, actually, to say goodbye."

This surprised Hiashi, but nothing could ever have prepared him for what happened next.

Hinata, who had been silent up to this point, bowed to him and said, "Goodbye father."

Hiashi's mask of cold, emotionless Hyuuga perfection hadn't slipped since his wife died eleven years ago, and even then he had never allowed his grief to show in the presence of others. Now, his mask shattered.

"H-Hinata?" he stammered, ironically sounding very much like the girl in question.

"I am sorry father," Hinata continued, "but I can no longer stay here. I am sorry that I could never meet your expectations. I am sorry that I was such a disappointment to you."

"You, you can't leave," Hiashi said, unused, atrophied tear ducts struggling to life. "You can't leave me!"

"I can't stay here, father," Hinata replied sadly. "If I stay, the elders will have me sealed, and at this point not even you could protect me. I am sorry, but I can't stay here. Goodbye father, I want you to know that I will always love you. Goodbye."

At this, Naruto and Hinata rose to leave, but Hiashi was having none of that. "Uzumaki!" he half shouted, half sobbed, as he staggered to his feet. "You will not take my daughter! You will not take my daughter away from me!"

Hiashi charged at Naruto with a roar. It wasn't a jyuuken strike – it wasn't even a punch – it was a sloppy full body tackle that wouldn't have been out of place in a drunken brawl. It was not the attack of a ninja, it was the attack of a desperate man, half mad with grief. Naruto simply sidestepped and tripped him. As Hiashi collapsed into a sobbing heap, Naruto and Hinata walked out of the room, Hinata leaning heavily on Naruto and crying softly.

"_Neji was right,"_ she thought. _"Father does love me. In his own, twisted way, he really loves me."_

As Naruto and Hinata left the Hyuuga compound, they left behind them a broken man.

"_Well that was unexpected,"_ Neji thought as he saw the sobbing mess his once proud uncle had been reduced to. _"The elders will find out soon. That's when the real battle begins."_

"That was fun," Toramaru chuckled as he hoisted the unconscious form of Sabaku no Temari unceremoniously over his shoulder.

"Speak for yourself," Kenji replied. "None of these are worth taking."

The blond man was examining the corpses of Temari's escort, about half of which had been slashed apart, while the remainder looked as though their torsos had exploded from the inside out.

"Why can't we just kill her and dump the body at the border?" Kenji whined. "It would be so much easier."

"Because those aren't our orders," Toramaru snapped. "Besides, I want to play with her for a while."

"Sadist."

"Ghoul."


	17. Chapter 17

**I got a bit carried away when writing one of the scenes for this chapter, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post it or not. You'll probably be able to tell which one I mean, I'm sure my psychiatrist would have a field day were he to read it. Anyway, I eventually decided to post it, and I hope I don't offend anyone's delicate sensibilities, but I have warned you every chapter that there would be disturbing and violent content, so you can't blame me if you still read it.**

Author's Note – this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO **(duh)

"speech"

"_thought"_

"**Demon Speech"**

– " _flashback" – _

**Chapter 17 – Reflecting on Heaven and Hell.**

Hinata still blushed every time she woke up in Naruto's arms. They were only sharing a bed and had yet to do anything even remotely sexual, but that didn't stop her cheeks from flushing adorably. It had been awkward at first, but they both loved the intimacy and were growing more and more comfortable with one another.

Hinata sighed contentedly, and snuggled closer to her beloved. Naruto was arguably the most dangerous man in Konoha – maybe even the world – yet it was in his arms that she felt safe. The irony made her giggle, waking the young man in question.

"Good morning my tenshi," he whispered sleepily, causing Hinata to blush all over again.

"Good morning Naruto-kun," she replied, then another happy sigh as he softly kissed her cheek.

It had been three days since the two Uzumakis had spoken to Hiashi and severed Hinata's ties to the Hyuuga clan. The day after, the clan elders had demanded a meeting with Naruto. The resulting fiasco would have been amusing had they been demanding something less horrific than the enslavement of a young woman.

–" '_You have something that belongs to us, Uzumaki-san,' rasped the ancient Hyuuga sitting across from him, "and we intend to have it back.'_

'_I am not aware that I am in possession of any of your belongings, Hyuuga-san,' Naruto replied politely, though he was currently entertaining a fantasy of swinging the man around by his hair for daring to claim ownership of another human being, much less Hinata._

'_Don't play the fool, Uzumaki,' sneered another one of the elders. 'Do you really think that you can steal her from us? We are the Hyuuga, the strongest clan in Konoha, and we will take Hiashi's daughter back with us. I warn you, boy, do not test us further.'_

'_You warn me?' Naruto's voice was low and menacing. He flared his chakra, leaving the Hyuuga delegation gasping for breath. 'I have more chakra than your entire clan combined, and the jyuuken is almost useless against me thanks to my jinchuuriki status. Don't try to threaten me, Hyuuga.'_

'_Why doesn't everyone calm down,' said the third elder. 'There's no need for any of this unpleasantness. This whole meeting has gotten off on the wrong foot, so let's all just settle down and discuss this like gentlemen. You, Uzumaki-san, have often stated your admirable ambition to become Hokage. The support of the Hyuuga clan could go far toward making that dream a reality. As my colleagues have rather tactlessly told you, Uzumaki-san we want Hinata to return to the Hyuuga clan. We are willing to reimburse you and are open to negotiations on that subject. With the amount of talented medics in the village capable of performing transplant surgeries, it could even be arranged for you to keep her byakugan, which would be far more use to you directly. I'm sure that we can reach some mutually satisfactory understanding.'_

_Strangely enough, Naruto was calm. His anger had passed well beyond rage and come full circle to find a sort of serenity in cold fury._

'_You want to buy Hinata back from me,' he said, closing his eyes and folding his hands. 'You want to buy her back, and you've even offered to pluck out one of her eyes and give it to me. All this so that you can place her, a member of your own family, under your curse seal to keep her enslaved so that you can have her repeatedly raped for use as a brood mare.'_

_Naruto's eyes snapped open, revealing endless red pits of blood and hellfire._

'_**Get Out.'**_

_The Hyuuga elders were literally blasted from their seats and swept out of the room by the waves of demonic chakra being vented by the jinchuuriki in front of them. He hadn't even used a full tail's worth, so there would be no lasting damage, but the bruises would last a long time and resist any attempts to speed their recovery via medical jutsu."_–

Having Naruto defend her like that had left Hinata with a warm feeling that still had yet to dissipate. Thinking about it, she gathered her courage enough to reach over and kiss the jinchuuriki beside her on his bewhiskered cheek.

"I love you Naruto-kun," she told him softly.

"I love you too Hinata," he told her, returning her kiss with a chaste kiss to her soft lips.

After kissing her, Naruto moved his hands into the sign for his favorite jutsu. When the clone appeared, Naruto tossed it his wallet from where it lay on the bedside table.

"We need breakfast," he told his clone. "Go pick us up some cinnamon rolls from that bakery Hinata-chan likes."

"I have all your memories, you don't need to tell me what to do, I already know," the clone told him in an annoyed voice before jumping out the window.

Naruto responded by making a rude gesture at the clone's retreating back, causing Hinata to have a fit of giggles. She suspected that Naruto picked these little fights with himself just because he knew how much they amused her, but that didn't make them any less funny to watch.

The beautiful girl laid her head back on her beloved's shoulder, wishing that she didn't have to get up. The past few days of living with Naruto were like heaven to her. Everything he did made her fall in love with him all over again. Distantly she wondered how her life had become such a flux of nightmare and fairy tale. In the past month she had battled with two absurdly powerful opponents and barely survived, claimed the heart of her childhood hero, been rescued by the aforementioned hero from a fate worse than death, then been whisked away to live with her true love – she prayed that it would be happily ever after.

The blissful couple lay quietly, his arms wrapped around her and her hands gripping his shirt, her head on his shoulder and his chin on her head. They spoke no words, because there was nothing they could say that would have greater meaning than the companionable silence. Both were content to lie on the bed, at peace with the world.

Eventually Naruto's clone returned bearing Hinata's beloved pastries.

"Thank you for getting me breakfast, Naruto-kun," the former Hyuuga said, giving Naruto one last cuddle before getting up.

"Why are you thanking him?" the clone demanded in an outraged voice. "I did all the work."

"Because you're part of me, dumb ass," Naruto replied. "Plus it was my money."

Dispelling the clone before it had a chance to argue back, Naruto heaved himself out of bed, placing his ridiculous nightcap on the bedside table as the happy couple rose to greet the day.

Temari awoke and immediately wished she hadn't. Bound and blindfolded, he had no idea how long she had been captured – time had no meaning when her tormenters had the Tsukuyomi. She wasn't even sure what had or hadn't been done to her anymore. Which tortures had been real, which had been illusions, and which had been the products of delirium?

It was embarrassing how easily she had been captured. They hadn't been prepared for a surprise attack from below – no one ever was. Humans had no natural predators that could burrow, and thus the human mind simply wasn't built to consider the possibility of an ambush from underground. It was a flawed instinct that no amount of training could ever fully compensate for. Even then, most ninja developed some three dimensional awareness even if it could never become second nature, but Suna was a dust flat and offered little opportunity to develop such skills. The enemy had been in the middle of their formation before they even knew they were under attack. As a long range specialist, Temari had been quickly overpowered in hand to hand combat, and her honor guard had been slaughtered.

Temari heard footsteps, and knew that her captors were back to inflict new torments on her. Then she heard a smug voice call out, sickly sweet with false affection, "Wakey wakey, princess, it's a new day!"

"_Shit,"_ she thought, _"it's the bastard with the sword. The one with the spear just tortures me and gets it over with, but the one with the sword gets off it. What was his name again? Tora-something. Sadistic fuck."_

"Today's our last day to play together," her tormenter continued, "after this, we'll be returning you to civilization, so I have a few parting gifts for you."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. "You haven't asked any questions, you won't get a ransom if I'm in this condition, so wh– AAAAAAAHH!" Temari's question was cut off into an agonized scream as a blade stabbed into her thigh, slicing through flesh to strike the bone beneath and punching through the other side.

"Now now," Toramaru sneered, drawing forth fresh screams as he pulled his blade down, splitting her femur lengthwise and slicing outward through her kneecap, reducing her leg to a mangled ruin of burning anguish, "that would be telling."

"Stay with me now," he ordered, even as he kneeled on her ruined leg and pulled her up from where she lay, causing her to go into dry eaves as her body tried to vomit from the pain. He pulled off her blindfold and she squinted in the sudden light. "I want you to see this next part."

Toramaru forced her to swallow several blood replenishing pills, then cut open her elbow. He grabbed her wrist with his left hand and, with his right, he pushed his fingers into the incision and took hold of the bone in her forearm. Then, he began pulling savagely. White hot agony and searing torment overwhelmed the tormented kunoichi as her captor pulled her arm apart. He continued to pull, relishing her chorus of screams, until, with a final wrench, he pulled the bones from her forearm, leaving it a limp, useless worm of torn and agonized flesh with a spastic hand hanging off one end.

Temari screamed. She had been trying to tell herself that she was in a genjutsu, that what she was experiencing wasn't real, but the new agony rendered thought impossible. Her every nerve rang with a symphony of pain. Pain was her universe and all that she knew. All there had ever been was torment, and all that would ever be was anguish.

Toramaru looked at his victim with sick satisfaction. It was time for the finishing touch. He seized her face and, before she could black out from her pain, her looked directly into her eyes.

"Tsukuyomi."

As a shinobi, one got used to seeing things that would reduce ordinary people to broken, gibbering wrecks. Even so, when the ANBU response team arrived on the sight of the signal flare, they were shocked at what they found.

It was not every day one found a Suna diplomat tied to a tree with two limbs reduced to horrific ruins, blood dripping from every orifice, eyes staring catatonically at nothing, wearing nothing but a Kumo headband.


End file.
